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McMullen’s, Remarkable Pubs, RCL, FDEV, late night market & other:

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

I saw a dead mole while out walking the other day.

A fat, otherwise healthy-looking specimen so, when I got home, I asked the Internet ‘do moles come above ground to die?’

I had pictured some sort of terminal migration.

Maybe a cross between an elephant graveyard and a lemming’s cliff-edge the final destination but Google wasn’t much help.

Indeed, it said that moles may come above ground in wet weather.

And they may come above ground in dry weather, so they’d covered all the bases there and it added that, as they’re not particularly long-lived, they’re quite likely to die wherever they are.

So thanks for that. Undoubtedly factually correct but of very little use at all.

Still, one out of the two isn’t bad so let’s move on to the news:

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PUBS & RESTAURANTS:

Late night market:

CGA and the Night Time Industries Association have produced their latest Night Time Economy Market Monitor reveals suggesting that, despite a certain steadiness in the market over the last  year, that ‘stability is now under severe threat from a wave of extra operating costs….’

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Other news:

Weather boosts pubs’ sales. Lumina Intelligence suggests that the recent warm weather has led to a surge in out-of-home dining. It says that visit frequency rose by 10.5% in the four weeks to 12 May. Spend rose by 14.9% with pubs and bars the major winners, largely due to their outdoor space.

Hiring shortages in the US. The FT reports that US restaurants are bracing for staff shortages as the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown threatens to squeeze an already-tight labour market….

COMPANY NEWS:

Remarkable Pubs, which ‘is a collection of 11 distinctively individual, principally freehold, London pubs, ten of which were trading throughout the year,’ has lodged accounts for the year to 30 June 2024 with Companies’ House saying revenue rose by 7.7% to £7.8m with operating profits slipping from £1.3m to £1.2m. an exceptional profit of £0.4m on the disposal of a pub in the prior year means that PBT slipped from £1.6m to £1.2m…

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McMullen & Sons, which was founded by Peter McMullen in 1827, adopted its current name in 1897 and owns an estate of pubs located in Hertfordshire and the Home Counties, has recently reported its numbers for the 52 weeks to 28 September 2024 to Companies’ House. The company reports revenue up by 8% at £122.7m. Operating profit is some 30.3% higher at £16.1m and underlying PBT is up by 34.4% at £16.4m. The company reports a gain of £2.3m on investment properties, not included in the above underlying figure. The company has paid dividends of £4.9m during the year (FY23: £2.3m)….

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KFC franchise operator 1st Rate Investment has reported numbers to 29 December 2024 to Companies’ House saying that revenue rose by 1.7% to £41.0m with PBT swinging from a loss of £877l to a profit of £216k….

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HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL:

Delay compensation. The EU has increased the length of a delay needed before compensation must be paid from three hours to four hours. Airlines for Europe has argued for an increase in the length of time for a number of years. The 3 hour limit will remain in place for UK airlines flying into, rather than out of, the UK.

Royal Caribbean Group on Friday announced that Richard Fain, Chair of the Board of Directors since 1988 ‘and a visionary leader whose contributions helped shape the modern cruise industry, will be stepping down from his role as Chairman in Q4 2025….’

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OTHER LEISURE:

Frontier Developments has announced that ‘Jurassic World Evolution 3, the highly anticipated third instalment in the critically acclaimed game franchise, will be launching on 21 October 2025 on PC, PlayStation5, and Xbox Series X|S…’

FINANCE & MARKETS:

Eurostat has increased its estimate for economic growth across the Eurozone to 0.6% in Q1 this year. It had previously estimated that growth had been 0.3%.

The US economy added 139,000 jobs in May per the US Bureau of Labour Statistics.

The Halifax has reported that UK house prices fell by 0.4% month on month in May. This takes the annual growth in the year to May down to 2.5%. The Halifax says ’despite ongoing pressure on household finances and a still uncertain economic backdrop, the housing market has shown resilience.’

Reform MP and deputy leader Richard Tice has written to the Bank of England accusing it of wasting tens of billions of taxpayers’ money on its QE programme.

Sterling mixed at $1.3550 and €1.1874. Oil higher at $66.43. UK 10yr gilt yield up 4 basis points at 4.65%. World markets better on Friday and in the Far East this morning but London set to open little changed as at 6.30am.

RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB:

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