Business and City Summary

Unilever in Russian deal

Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant, has completed its first acquisition in Russia with the purchase of Severnoye Siyaniye, a St Petersburg cosmetics business, for an undisclosed sum. .

Pension probe urged

John Edmunds, general secretary of the GMB union, called for a Fraud Office investigation into how insurance and finance companies have persuaded people to opt out of occupational pension schemes, claiming that 3 million low-paid workers had lost out by switching to private pensions.

BT3 deadline nears

Investors in BT3 must pay the second 140p instalment by Thursday 24 February, so cheques and bankers drafts can clear in time for the 3pm deadline on 1 March.

TODAY:21.2.94

Interims: Ashtead Group, Conrad, Essex Furniture, FII Group, Fleming High Income (3rd interim div), Johnson Fry Utilities, Wills Group.

Finals: City Merchants High, Govett & Co, Grosvenor Development Capital, Korea Liberalisation Fund, London Industrial (Q3), Low & Bonar.

AGMs: Crabtree Group, Southern Business Group, Turkey Trust. EGMs: Blick.

TOMORROW: 22.2.94

Economic statistics: UK output, income and expenditure (Q4 1993) Capital expenditure (Q4 1993 - prov) Stocks and work in progress (Q4 1993 - prov)

Interims: Amer Group (Q3), Bellwinch, Eaglet Inv Trust, John Haggas, Henderson Eurotrust, Macro 4, North American Gas Inv Trust, River & Mercantile Smaller Companies Trust, Stewart & Wight, Thorn EMI (Q3).

Finals: Guardian Royal Exchange, Regina, Sedgwick Group, Shires High-Yield, Temple Bar Inv Trust, Unilever.

AGMs: Archimedes Inv Trust, Intercare Group, A Kershaw & Sons, LPA Industries, London & Clydeside Holdings, McMullen & Sons. EGMs: MAI

WEDNESDAY: 23.2.94

Interims: Alliance Resources, Community Hospitals, Gartmore Shared Equity Trust, Gartmore Value Investments (Q3), Gencor, Minerals Oils & Resources, Pacific Horizon Inv Trust, Tottenham Hotspur.

Finals: British Aerospace, Commercial Union, Dunedin Income Growth Inv, Fairway Group, Foreign & Colonial Enterprise Trust, Grafton Group, Lombard North Central, National Westminster Bank, Oriental Smaller, Porvair, Serif, TR High Income Trust, Transatlantic Holdings.

AGMs: Acatos & Hutcheson, Carlton Communications, First National Finance, Greencore Group, Holmes & Marchant, Hunters Armley Group, Rank Organisation, Stakis.

THURSDAY: 24.2.94

Economic statistics: UK national accounts (Q4 1993) Balance of payments (Q4 1993) Capital expenditure (Q4 1993 - rev) Stocks and work in progress (Q4 1993 - rev).

Interims: British Assets Trust (Q1 div), Eleco Holdings, Flogas, Quayle Munro, Regent Inns, Throgmorton Dual Trust, Tor Investment Trust (2nd interim div), Towry Law, TNT.

Finals: British Gas, Edinburgh Oil & Gas, European Smaller Cos, ICI, London Finance & Investment, Merlin Intnl Green Investment, Provident Financial, Royal Dutch Shell, Royal Insurance, Skipton Building Society, Telegraph.

AGMs: Countryside Properties, Electronic Data Processing, Grainger Trust, Neotronics, Premier Land, RCO Holdings, Trafalgar House. EGMs: Electronic Data Processing.

FRIDAY: 25.2.94

Economic statistics: CBI Monthly Trends Enquiry (Feb) Balance of trade with countries outside the EC.

Interims: Foreign & Colonial Spec, Goodwin, Honeysuckle Group, Isotron, Middle Witwatersrand, Frank Usher Holdings.

Finals: Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon, Horace Small Apparel.

AGMs: Aberdeen Trust, Mining & Allied Supplies. EGMs: Grosvenor Inns, Guinness.