PUBLIC companies often reward shareholders' loyalty with a wide variety of "perks", including discounted goods and services, but few consider it worthwhile to fund a crowd scene at its annual general meeting. British supermarket group Sainsbury this week decided to rent a shareholder by offering investors who attend this week's a.g.m 500 free points on the company's new "loyalty discount card". Chairman David Sainsbury said that the move was designed to thank investors for having "taken the trouble " to turn up.

Unfortunately for Sainsbury loyalty discount points have no influence on the judicial process which has necessitated the slowdown of construction work on its proposed new super store in Coleraine, Northern Ireland. Sainsbury has run into a spot of legal difficulty due to a High Court ruling which deemed that the Department of the Environment acted unlawfully in granting planning permission for the development. Around £1 million of work has already been completed on the Coleraine site.