Contract row in store at Safeway

DIRECTORS of bid-target Safeway are expected to come under fire at tomorrow's annual shareholders' meeting. The supermarkets group, currently the target of a five-way bid battle, has given two-year contracts to chairman David Webster, finance director Simon Laffin and to services director Richard Williams.

Chief executive Carlos Criado-Perez is on a 12-month contract but stands to collect £1.3m if the group is taken over.

Trading figures due at the meeting are expected to be lacklustre, with sales remaining under pressure as the bid battle rages. Recent figures showed a like-for-like gain of 0.8%, but this is likely to have slowed, analysts said.