News from Glencore, easyJet and more AGMs, too.
With May bank holiday on Monday, we have a slow start to the week's company news, but it gets busy later in the week, with some worth watching out for.
The only big set of full-year results will come from J Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY) on Wednesday, and we'll want to know if the supermarket is managing to steal a march on Tesco (LSE: TSCO) after the latter's much-publicised hiccup.
A fourth-quarter update in March told us of a "strong finish to a good year", and suggested a rise in like-for-like sales of 4.5% (or 2.1% excluding fuel). I'd call that quite modest myself, but with a 5% dividend expected, and the 309p shares on a forecast price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 11, they look like a possible buy to me.
Flying high on eurosqueeze
Moving over to the travel and leisure sector, we should have half-year results from easyJet (LSE: EZJ) on Wednesday, and it should be a reasonably upbeat one. The famous orange airline, together with its rival Ryanair (LSE: RYA), turned in some pretty good results in January, as the shakeout in European aviation has helped the budget operators.
The share price has performed admirably, having gained 50% in the past 12 months to stand at 515p. But it's still a very hard business to be in, and it's not one for those who can't stand a bit of volatility.
A mining giant in the making?
Wednesday is also an important day for Glencore International (LSE: GLEN) shareholders, as it is due to host its annual general meeting (AGM) and provide us with a management statement and first-quarter production report. The Glencore share price has disappointed investors since the commodities dealer joined the FTSE 100 in May 2011.
What we'll be looking for is news of the firm's planned merger with Xstrata (LSE: XTA), which would create a mining giant to compete with the biggest. Current year-end forecasts and valuations are pretty much on hold until we hear what's going to happen.
Shareholder power
Talking of AGMs, eyes and ears will be closely tuned to Trinity Mirror (LSE: TNI) on Thursday, as the news group releases a statement on the day of its meeting. This year's AGM season has brought with it a healthy crop of protests against fat-cat pay in the boardroom, and after Aviva (LSE: AV) shareholders rejected the company's pay package at this week's AGM, Trinity Mirror has clearly been rocked into action.
In this case, a revolt against chief executive Sly Bailey was expected, as the group's shares have plummeted by 90% since she took charge in 2003, while she pocketed total remuneration valued at £1.3m in 2011. But that has been forestalled by the announcement that Ms Bailey will step down at the end of the year. It would still be a good AGM to be a fly on the wall of.
More updates
Adding to the list of companies holding their AGMs and issuing accompanying management statements, we also have the insurer Old Mutual (LSE: OML), the international automotive distributor and retailer Inchcape (LSE: INCH), and investment manager Rathbone Brothers (LSE: RAT), all on Thursday.
Gas and electricity supplied Centrica (LSE: CNA) and computer consultancy Logica (LSE: LOG), will do the same on Friday.
Notable announcements next week:
Monday: Bank holiday
Tuesday: Hansard Global, Hiscox
Wednesday: CRH, easyJet, Glencore International, Inmarsat, Resolution, Sage Group, J Sainsbury, United Drug
Thursday: Beazley, Dixons Retail, Eurasian Natural Resources, Experian, Inchcape, Old Mutual, Rank Group, Rathbone Brothers, Tissue Regenix Group, Trinity Mirror, John Wood Group
Friday: Catlin Group, Centrica, International Consolidated Airlines, Logica, Petrofac
Fool comment on this week's news:
> Alan does not own any shares mentioned in this article.
