After Thursday's barrage of company announcements there is the usual Friday let-up. Advertising firms WPP and Aegis will have the stage much to themselves, although the annual general meeting of Barclays could prove lively if the subject gets round to executive remuneration.
In an effort to stave off further banker-bashing from politicians and the press, Barclays' Chief Executive Bob Diamond and Finance Director Chris Lucas are to link half of their 2011 bonuses to the bank's future returns performance, it was announced last Thursday.
According to the BBC's business editor, Robert Peston, however, a number of big British pension funds and insurance companies are still planning to launch a protest vote against the banking group's remuneration policy, and will vote against the re-election of the chair of the remuneration committee at the annual general meeting.
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"This would mean between 15% and 20% of voting shareholders would vote against the re-election of Alison Carnwarth as chair of the remuneration committee and a similar proportion would vote against the remuneration report," Peston claims.
WPP's trading statement will be closely monitored because the group is widely regarded as having incredibly reliable antennae when it comes to predicting which way the wind is blowing in the global economy.
As for its own fortunes, WPP is tipped by UBS to announce organic sales growth of 4% or more.
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
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INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
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PMI Retail (EU) (09:00)
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