Langton Capital – 2022-06-22 – Inflation, food prices, BrewDog, Carlsberg, Caffe Nero, Jet2 & more:
Inflation, food prices, BrewDog, Carlsberg, Caffe Nero, Jet2 & more:A DAY IN THE LIFE: Auto-fills in texts and emails can doubtless be useful but, as I relied on my computer just that little bit too much and sent an email saying the off-trade was a serious competitor in a recession because consumers could always sit on the settee and drink a can of worms (when it should have been Stella), I can only apologise. But maybe, on reflection, I should be more inclusive. Because there are maybe some people out there who prefer worms to Stella. Or not be able to tell the difference, which brings us in a roundabout way to the blackbird that’s nesting in the Virginia Creeper above our front door and which has made its life’s work to divebomb and mob us every time we leave our house as it attempts to defend its chicks. And there’s no telling it, no matter how much I try. I’d no more eat her chicks than I would the regurgitated snails and worms that she keeps feeding them. On to the news: LANGTON EMAIL: The Free Email is now written in short form. Extended versions of many stories are in the Premium Email. Reply to this email if you would like to upgrade. See Twitter for in-day comment. Let us know if you would like an example of the Premium Email or to comment on the new format. Prices for the Premium are £345 for one subscription, £595 for multiple, both plus VAT. Reply to this email to order & request invoice. Or sign up for easy in, easy out monthly option HERE PUBS & RESTAURANTS: Train strikes: These are not good news for many operators. Perhaps some that benefited from WFH during the pandemic but, for most hospitality businesses, particularly those in London, the strikes are bad news… • See premium. Reply to this email to upgrade. The NTIA says event venues are set to take a substantial hit on trade due to the ongoing rail strikes… The impact. The BBC says that ‘all the advance publicity and media coverage about the biggest national rail strike in decades seems to have had an impact – with many passengers apparently heeding advice not to travel by train.’ Some travelled by coach, typically up to doubling journey times. • See premium. Reply to this email to upgrade. Trading: Kantar reports that the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee helped push sales of alcohol in the off-trade up by a third… Commenting on its Pret Index, Bloomberg says ‘the return of London’s bankers to offices last week following school vacations and UK national holidays pushed transactions at Pret A Manger Ltd in the capital’s financial districts close to a pandemic high.’ • See premium. Reply to this email to upgrade. Consumer squeeze & inflation: Squeeze: Moneyfacts has reported that the average standard variable rate paid by UK mortgage borrowers rose to its highest level in 13 years in June… XpertHR reports that annual pay growth may have stalled at 4% in May, less than a half of the rate of inflation. It says ‘despite pay awards reaching record levels not seen for 30 years, any marginal increases we are seeing are outstripped by the sheer pace of inflation.’ Inflation and costs: The squeeze tightens. The ONS has this morning reported that the rate of annual inflation edged up in the year to May to 9.1% from 9.0% in April… • See premium. Reply to this email to upgrade. Kantar has reported that grocery price inflation was 8.3% in the year to June… • See premium. Reply to this email to upgrade. Lockdown winners (and what’s happened since): The market suffered a staggering sell-off as the pandemic loomed large back in March 2020, after which some stocks suddenly looked very favourable to investors, these became the ‘lockdown winners’… • See premium. Reply to this email to upgrade. Other news: WineGB figures show that 9.3m bottles of English and Welsh wine were sold in 2021, a 31% increase on the year prior and up 69% on the number of bottles sold in 2019… COMPANY NEWS: The BBC reports that Brewdog CEO James Watt was involved in preliminary discussions about a potential sale of part of the firm to rivals Heineken in 2018. Watt had previously criticised craft brewers for ‘selling out’ to bigger companies. • See premium. Reply to this email to upgrade. Caffè Nero has announced that it ‘had a record opening week of sales in its new Stansted Airport store.’ Carlsberg reports that CFO ‘Heine Dalsgaard has decided to resign from Carlsberg to take up the CFO position in a private equity-backed company in a different industry. He will continue at Carlsberg until 31 December 2022 at the latest.’ The company says ‘we will initiate the succession process and announce Heine’s successor in due course.’ Tim Hortons will open its very first drive-thru restaurant in London on 1 July, located at Park Royal. HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL: Jet2.com is selling an expanded range of city breaks for summer 2023, increasing capacity by 25%. The programme includes Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Budapest, Paris, Krakow, Nice, Prague, Pisa, Rome, Verona and Venice. Spanish tourism secretary Fernando Valdés has warned Britons they will not be welcome in Spain if they drink excessively and commit acts of anti-social behaviour… Parkdean Resorts will switch its energy supply to Calor Futuria Liquid Gas (previously bioLPG). Parkdean says the move will help it reach its target of reducing CO2 emissions by 25% by 2025 and net zero by 2040. STR reports that the U.S. hotel industry turned in a mixed performance in May 2022. It says occupancy was 65.1% (down 5.0% on 2019) but rate was up 13.4% to give REVPAR some 7.7% higher than it was 3yrs ago. The USS is reportedly in talks to buy Butlins. FINANCE & MARKETS: Inflation stats are out. See Pubs & Restaurants above. The CBI has reported that UK factory growth has slowed. It says output increased in 12 out of 17 sectors in the three months to June. It adds that export order books fell back to a normal level in June, but were still above their long-term averages. • See premium. Reply to this email to upgrade. Bank of England MPC member Catherine Mann has said that the Bank should consider raising interest rates faster in order to support the weak pound… • See premium. Reply to this email to upgrade. Sterling lower at $1.2235 and €1.1648. Oil down at $111.14. UK 10yr gilt yield up 4bps at 2.64%. World markets better yesterday but London set to open down around 64pts as at 6.30am. FORTHCOMING NEWS: Rank Group updated Monday with a profit warning. Gear 4 Music reporte full year numbers yesterday. Chapeldown hosts its AGM today. Naked Wines announces full year numbers on Thursday and Carnival Cruises reports Q2 numbers on Friday. A bit more lively on the economics front. UK CPI and RPI numbers were out this morning with Public Sector Borrowing numbers on Thursday. Friday should see Flash PMI numbers as well as the widely-followed GfK Consumer Confidence numbers. RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB: • See premium. Reply to this email to upgrade. |
|
