Brighton Pier, Hostmore, DP Poland, scrapping Plan B, trading etc.:

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

Out and about over the weekend and it felt quiet.

This could be as a result of Plan B or it could be because we are approaching – or perhaps have arrived at – the ‘worst day of the year’.

This has to be a Monday, it needs to be before pay-week and it should include the receipt of those Christmas credit card bills that we have all been dreading. And hence it’s either today or the 24th.

However, looking on the bright-side, with the daffodils pushing through the mud and the birds skittering around looking for nesting materials, it should get better from here.

Let’s hope that’s a metaphor for the economy as a whole and move on to the news:

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PUBS & RESTAURANTS:

PM Boris Johnson is widely reported set to remove Plan B Covid restrictions on 26 January in the wake of dropping infection numbers. Some have suggested that this is part of Operation Red Meat, a raft of populist measures designed to reboot his premiership in the wake of sleaze and rule-breaking allegations.

CGA reports that Omicron has created a ‘January hangover for drinks sales.’ It says that beer sales in the week to 8 Jan were down by 20% on the same period in 2020 and wine sales in the on trade were down by 26%. Spirits fared better at minus 8%.

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Zonal has conducted research into teenaged customer habits saying that ‘despite having grown up surrounded by technology and social media, still prefer in-person interaction over virtual socialising.’ It says ‘whilst 69% of all teenagers surveyed believe tech has a positive impact on society, over half (55%) prefer to spend time with friends face-to-face as opposed to online.’ As part of this research, Zonal and Trajectory conducted a survey of hundreds of teens and held a number of focus groups with groups of teens aged 13 to 15, as well as 16 and 17.

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The Observer reports that ‘last year’s boom in British summer holidays was not enough to save thousands of tourism businesses, despite increased domestic bookings to popular places such as Cornwall and the Yorkshire Dales.’ It says ‘a survey by the Tourism Alliance of 1,927 tour operators, hotels, attractions, language schools and other travel and hospitality businesses serving foreign tourists found that 11% believe they are “very likely to fail” in 2022, and a total of 41% think they are “quite likely to fail”’.

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Wales plans to move to alert level 0 by the beginning of February, removing the existing restrictions as the level of covid cases drops in the country. First Minister Mark Drakeford said Omicron cases are coming down ‘rapidly’ and rules can be relaxed ‘gradually’.

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Drinks Business suggests there will be further consolidation within the UK market for wine distribution over the next few years on the back of Brexit and Covid.

NRN in the US says that some restaurants are now requiring three jabs for staff.

The ONS reports December inflation numbers on Wednesday.

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COMPANY & OTHER NEWS:

Newly-listed Hostmore has updated on trading saying that ‘trading for the month of December 2021 was ahead of early-month expectations.’

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DP Poland PLC updates on full year trading for the year to end-December saying that LfL sales rose by 6% in 2021 compared to 2020. It says that LfL system sales in Q4 were up by 10% compared with Q3 and they were up by 16% when compared with Q4 2020. DPP says its dine-in business is ‘recovering strongly but still has more upside potential.’ DPP has cash at bank of £1.8m as at 31 December 2021 (2020: £1.2m) and its says ‘the Q4 momentum has been maintained in the first days of 2022.’ Profits, however, have been impacted by rising costs and FY21 profits will be lower than expected.

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The Brighton Pier Group has updated on trading saying that it has traded positively for the 26-week period ended 26 December 2021. It says ‘the period started strongly and the businesses have continued to deliver an extremely robust performance. Whilst there was some impact in December due to the restrictions, over New Year the bars recovered their momentum, trading 9 % up on 2019.’

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JDW chairman Tim Martin has said that British boardrooms have become ‘havens of wokery and political correctness.’ Speaking in the Mail on Sunday, Mr Martin says he agreed with fund star Terry Smith, who last week accused Unilever of putting environmental, social and governance efforts before profit.

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Sky reports that Welsh brewer & pubco SA Brain ‘is to sell the freeholds to scores of its pubs to a consortium that includes a global private equity powerhouse.’ It says ‘Brains is close to agreeing a deal to offload approximately 100 Welsh pubs to Song Capital and Cerberus Capital Management, the former owner of Admiral Taverns.’ Sky mentions a figure of £100m and adds that none of the parties could be reached for comment.

The Times reports that BrewDog plans to invest £75 million in growing its business this year. The Daily Mail, meanwhile, quotes boss James Watt as saying that his business received two takeover approaches last year.

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The Monster Beverage Corp is to sell its first alcoholic drinks as a result of a $330 million deal for craft beer and hard seltzer producer CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective LLC. Monster says ‘the acquisition will provide us with a fully in-place infrastructure, including people, distribution and licenses, along with alcoholic beverage development expertise and manufacturing capabilities in this industry.’

Caffè Nero has announced that it has completed a £330m debt refinancing, leaving the company with a six-year loan package provided by HSBC, Santander and Carlyle Group, as well as an undrawn facility of £85m to fund its expansion. The refinancing is reported in The Times to have ‘fended off the takeover ambitions of the Issa brothers’.

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JD Wetherspoon is partnering with Hull University Students’ Union to open a bar on the university campus from 31 January 2022. The Sanctuary bar will still be run and managed by Hull University Students’ Union. JDW says ‘we have entered into a partnership with Hull University Students Union for the operation of the Sanctuary Bar and we look forward to working with them to making it a success.’

Sodexo reports Q1 revenues up 18.8% YoY to €5.3bn, citing business activity at 95% of pre-pandemic levels. The company said that corporate services, sports & leisure and university activity levels increased ‘very substantially’ during the quarter. In Europe, continued progress of the return to workplaces and the reopening of sports stadiums delivered 11.2% revenue growth.

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Starbucks has scrapped its £0.40 surcharge for dairy alternatives across all its UK stores. The removal of the charge brings Starbucks in line with UK market leader Costa Coffee, which removed its plant-based surcharge in 2019, with Pret A Manger following suit in 2020 by ditching its own surcharge.

Pizza Pilgrims is launching a site in Brighton, taking over the former ProCook retail site on Ship Street, opposite The Ivy, in the Lanes areas. The Brighton site marks only the second venture outside London for the brand, in addition to Westgate Centre in Oxford.

KFC wants to open 500 UK restaurants this year, listing all the aspirational locations on its website.

Tim Hortons is set to open its first unit in Kent with plans for a fast food restaurant and drive-thru in Westwood Cross, Broadstairs being recommended for approval.

LEISURE TRAVEL & HOTELS:

Exceltur reports that Spain’s tourism sector is expected to reach near pre-pandemic levels in 2022, forecasting the 2022 market to be worth €135 billion, or 88% of its pre-Covid value. In 2021, it hit 57% of its pre-Covid size, according to Exceltur, which expects activity to return to its previous size in 2023.

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Travel Weekly reports that easyJet has seen a spike in bookings to popular French ski destinations for the remainder of the winter season after France lifted its ban on UK travellers. EasyJet said it saw ‘a 600% lift in UK bookings to popular French ski destinations’. It adds that ‘last-minute bookings to Switzerland also saw a peak immediately after the news broke with a 386% increase in flight bookings, suggesting consumer confidence in international travel continues to build.’

New measures are being introduced to force owners of second homes to pay their fair share towards local services in popular destinations such as Cornwall, Devon, the Lake District, Suffolk, West Sussex and the Isles of Scilly. Currently, owners of second homes in England can avoid paying council tax and access small business rates relief by simply declaring an intention to let the property out to holidaymakers.

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Iata reports that the global recovery in air travel was slowing before the Omicron wave of Covid-19 hit in late November, with traffic growth easing from  7.9% in October to 1.7% in November.

Accor signed 25 additional hotels in Northern Europe in December.

OTHER LEISURE:

The Sunday Times questions whether Cineworld will be able to plot a route that sees it successfully deal with its accumulated debts, negative court judgements and debts to landlords.

Meta, formerly Facebook, is being sued for £2.3bn in a class action lawsuit that claims 44 million Facebook users in the UK had their data exploited after signing up to the social network. The case argues that Meta has broken the 1998 Competition Act by setting an ‘unfair price’ for Facebook’s UK users when they are given access to the service.

Additionally, Meta is shutting down Sparked, its online speed-dating service designed by its in-house incubator, the NPE team.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has said that the BBC’s current, five year license deal ‘will be the last’. Ms Dorries says ‘this licence fee announcement will be the last. The days of the elderly being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on doors are over. Time now to discuss and debate new ways of funding, supporting and selling great British content.’

FINANCE & MARKETS:

Data released by the ONS on Friday showed that the UK economy had grown back to the size it was pre-Covid. GDP rose by 0.9% in November after managing only 0.2% in October.

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Fed observers are expecting three x 0.25% increases in interest rates for the US this year. This ‘barring any changes in the data.’

China’s exports rose by 20.9% year-on-year in December. Imports grew by 19.5%.

Road changes made necessary by Brexit red tape and border delays are reported set to disrupt traffic on the M20 in Kent for a year.

The Bank of England has reported that demand for mortgages began to cool in Q4 last year.

Bloomberg comments on wage growth (albeit in the US) saying that hikes in pay, though now at 20yr high levels of 4.5%, are failing to keep pace with inflation. It says younger workers are outperforming their older colleagues and women are doing better than men.

The ONS reported on Friday that the UK’s ‘total imports of goods, excluding precious metals, increased by £2.0 billion (4.9%) in November 2021, because of a £0.8 billion (4.5%) increase in EU imports and a £1.1 billion (5.2%) rise in imports from non-EU countries.’ It adds ‘imports from non-EU countries continue to be higher than from EU countries for the 11th consecutive month, and the gap is at its widest point of the year.’ It says ‘total exports of goods, excluding precious metals, decreased by £0.3 billion (1.0%) in November 2021, driven entirely by a £0.3 billion (2.1%) fall in exports to non-EU countries while exports to EU countries remained flat.’

China has cut a key interest rate for the first time in around two years.

Sterling mixed at $1.3674 and €1.1973. Oil price higher at $86.30. UK 10yr gilt yield up 3bps at 1.14%. World markets mixed on Friday. London set to open up around 19pts as at 7am.

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