Week Ahead: British Airways, Pru, M&S

2nd Apr 2010 14:37

Wednesday looks like it could be an interesting day in the post-Easter week with two companies mired in controversy, British Airways and Prudential, scheduled to make announcements.Airline British Airways is scheduled to give details of passenger statistics for March, a month in which services were disrupted by industrial action. Industry pundits have suggested that the strike action has cost British Airways £75m in lost revenue, though the airline said on 29 March that its earnings expectations for the year to March 31 are 'broadly unchanged' in spite of strike disruption.Insurer Prudential rocked the boat when it agreed at the beginning of March to buy troubled US life group AIG's Asian business for $35.5bn. It has been described in some quarters as a reckless 'bet the company' gamble, while the company's chief executive Tidjane Thiam argued that the move will give the company a dominant position in its fastest growing market.To underline the point the Pru released fourth quarter figures which showed sales rise 25% over third quarter levels with sales in Asia up 42%. The company's share price slumped in the immediate aftermath of the announcement from around 600p to below 500p but has since recovered about half the loss.Retail giant Marks & Spencer (M&S) has not been without its share of controversy over the last few years, almost all of it focusing on Sir Stuart Rose and the decision of the board to allow him to occupy the dual roles of chairman and chief executive, generally considered a 'no-no' in the City.That bone of contention has now been resolved with the poaching, at great expense, of Marc Bolland from supermarket chain Morrisons, to take on the chief executive role, although a considerable amount of grumbling is still going on about the remuneration of the top men at a retailer that is being given the run-around by Waitrose, the supermarket arm of the John Lewis Partnership.After a three-month spell of holding the hands of the new chief exec, Sir Stuart Rose will adopt a non-executive role as chairman, for which he will take a 25% pay cut to £875,000 a year - about a third more than the chairman of Britain's largest supermarket chain, Tesco, gets, while in order to lure Bolland away from Morrisons the company felt it had to offer him a £15m package. Dutchman Bolland will earn at least £8.5m in his first year, including £7.5m compensation for lost bonuses and Morrison share options. For that sort of money shareholders will be expecting sensational results but they may have to wait a bit as Bolland has barely got his feet under the desk. There have been suggestions that in order to transform the business Bolland may need to strengthen the balance sheet and that M&S will try to get a large rights issue away while Bolland is still enjoying a honeymoon period.The company issues its trading update on Thursday. Monday April 05INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSISM Non-Manufacturing (US) (14:00)ISM Services (US) (15:00)Pending Homes Sales (US) (14:00)FINALSOJSC Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel GDR (Reg S)AGMSTurkiye Petrol Rafinerileri GDR (Reg S)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEBrewin DolphinTuesday April 06INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATECarclo, Diageo, Phoenix IT GroupINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSConsumer Confidence (US) (21:00)Crude Oil Inventories (US) (20:30)Leading Indicator Index (JPN) (05:00)PMI Construction (EU) (09:00)PMI Construction (GER) (08:55)RBA Interest Rate (AUS) (00:00)GMSAvisen, Egdon ResourcesFINALSBrightside, Novolip Regswi GDS (Reg S)ANNUAL REPORTBovis Homes GroupEGMSInfrastructure IndiaAGMSJust Car Clinics Group, XploiteTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSPrinting.comUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBRC Shop Price Index (23:01)PMI Construction (09:30)FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATEPhoenix Group HoldingsWednesday April 07INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEPennon GroupINTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATEAnglo and Overseas Trust, Skywest AirlinesQUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATEBritish Land Co, Investors Capital Trust 'A' Shares, Schroder Income Growth FundINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSConsumer Credit (US) (19:00)Crude Oil Inventories (US) (14:30)Factory Orders (GER) (11:00)FOMC Interest Rate Minutes (US) (19:00)Gross Domestic Product (EU) (09:00)MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (11:00)PMI Services (EU) (08:00)PMI Services (GER) (08:55)Retail Sales (GER) (07:00)FINALSShed Media, Speymill GroupANNUAL REPORTHighcroft Investment, Hydro International, Interserve, Parkwood Holdings, PrudentialEGMSLiberty InternationalAGMSIG Group HoldingsTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSBritish Airways, Chloride Group, Highcroft Investment, Hydro International, Marston's, PrudentialUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSIndex of Services (08:30)Industrial Production (08:30)PMI Composite (09:30)PMI Services (08:30)Producer Price Index (09:00)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEElectronic Data ProcessingFINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATEArriva, Bluehone AIM VCT 2, Bodycote, Herald Inv Trust, Holidaybreak, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group, JPMorgan American Inv Trust, Logica, Mithras Inv Trust, Omega Insurance Holdings, Pearson, Prudential, Resolution, Rotork, Stanley Gibbons, The Hotel Corporation, Tikit, Ultra Electronics Holdings, WSP GroupThursday April 08INTERIMSClearStream Technologies Group, MatchtechINTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEJPMorgan Mid Cap Inv Trust, Oxford InstrumentsQUARTERLY PAYMENT DATEGlaxoSmithKlineINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSConsumer Credit (US) (20:00)Continuing Claims (US) (12:30)ECB Interest Rate (EU) (11:45)Industrial Production (GER) (11:00)Initial Jobless Claims (US) (12:30)Retail Sales (EU) (09:00)Unemployment Rate (AUS) (00:00)FINALSInternational Public Partnerships Ltd., RotalaANNUAL REPORTBalfour Beatty, Yule CattoIMSSHays, Misys, Robert WaltersAGMSLow & Bonar, Matrix European Real Estate Investment Trust Ltd., Scottish American Inv CompanyTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSBalfour Beatty, easyJet, Marks & Spencer Group, VictrexUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBoE Interest Rate Decision (11:00)Industrial Production (08:30)Manufacturing Production (08:30)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEThomas Cook GroupFriday April 09INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATECassidy BrothersINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSWholesales Inventories (US) (14:00)GMSGladstone Pacific NickelFINALSZhaikmunai GDR (Reg S)ANNUAL REPORTChesnara, John Menzies, Mercantile Inv Trust, Morson GroupIMSSMichael Page InternationalAGMSHygea VCT, Vatukoula Gold MinesTRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSJohn Menzies, Michael Page International, X5 Retail Group GDR (Reg S)UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSProducer Price Index (08:30)FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATEForesight 2 VCT, Foresight 2 VCT 'C' Shares