Investors will have food and grocery news aplenty to chew over on Tuesday, while Shell's annual shareholder meeting will see two key climate votes.
The AGM will be "a brilliant opportunity for shareholder scrutiny, and not one to be missed", said Lee Wild, head of equity strategy at Interactive Investor (read more on the Shell votes here).
Supermarkets and food prices are going to be the focus of industry data from Kantar, which a month ago reported supermarket inflation had reached 5.9% in March, up from 4.3% in February and the highest since December 2011.
Amid a search for value from households, limited-assortment discounters Aldi and Lidl were the fastest-growing food retailers, with the two discounters accounting for 15.4% of the market compared to 5.5% a decade ago.
First things in the morning there will be company results, including from meat producer Cranswick, meat packer Hilton Foods and prepared food supplier Greencore.
Cranswick has seen its shares fall 13% over the past month after salmonella was found in one of its plants, leading to supermarkets removing thousands of chicken sandwiches from their shelves.
A routine inspection identified the presence of the stomach-bothering bacteria was found in some cooked chicken products prepared at its poultry facility in Hull.
Besides what is expected to be a strong performance last year, investors will be interested in what management has to say about the salmonella investigation and the sharp increase in the cost of pigs and chickens over the past two months, alongside the cost of living crisis that is sure to eventually hit demand.
One of Cranswick’s clients is Greencore Group PLC (LSE:GNC), which supplies a wide variety of prepared foods to the big supermarkets and could also have something to say about chicken sandwiches.
Sales from Greencore are expected to have improved in the second quarter and new business wins, with underlying profits of £15mln forecast compared to breakeven last year and £38mln in 2020.
The outlook will be important as sales will need to be strong to offset cost increases.
Hilton Foods is the third food company making a statement on the day, with some commentary usually provided ahead of its annual shareholder meeting.
“The company is very well placed in the current inflationary environment, given that the majority of business is on cost-plus contracts. The squeeze on consumer spend will have an impact on volumes, but the business has relatively low operational gearing,” said broker Peel Hunt.
Continuing the food theme, airport and railway station cafe operator SSP Group plc (LSE:SSPG) also is due to serve up results, and along with On The Beach Group PLC will be hoping to get a repeat of the warm reception given to the airlines that reported in the past week. (Read more on the travel pair here.)
RS Group PLC, the former Electrocomponents, has issued three upgrades since January and so if it does not unveil an impressive set of results it will be a bit of a surprise.
In macroeconomic news, preliminary purchasing managers index (PMIs) surveys will be front and centre for traders after markets were hit by growth concerns in the past week.
Markets will be closely watching for signs of a slowdown in the PMIs for the US, UK, Germany, France and Japan.
Significant announcements expected on Tuesday 24 May
Finals: AVEVA Group PLC, Bytes Technology Group PLC, Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited, Cranswick PLC (LSE:CWK), Helical PLC, Homeserve PLC, Likewise Group PLC, Lords Group Trading PLC, RS Group PLC, Speedy Hire PLC
Interims: Avon Protection PLC (LSE:AVON), Greencore Group PLC (LSE:GNC), OnTheBeach Group PLC, Residential Secure Income REIT, Shaftesbury PLC, SSP PLC, Topps Tiles PLC
Trading announcements: Hill & Smith PLC
AGMs: 4imprint Group Plc, Afentra plc, Artisanal Spirits Company PLC, Dunedin Income Growth Investment Trust PLC, Endeavour Mining PLC, Epwin Group PLC, FDM Group PLC, Forterra PLC, Harworth Group PLC, Hill & Smith Holdings PLC, Hilton Food Group PLC, Horizonte Minerals PLC, JPMorgan American Investment Trust PLC, Judges Scientific PLC, M Winkworth Plc, Pebble Group PLC, Petershill Partners PLC, Quarto Group Inc, Restaurant Group PLC, Riverstone Energy Ltd, Shell PLC, Thungela Resources Ltd, Vector Capital PLC, WPP PLC
Economic data: Flash PMI survey (UK and US), Public Sector Net Borrowing (UK), New Homes Sales (US)