Starbucks, EU labour, minimum wage, credit cards etc.:

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

For the next week Langton will be either on, on the way to, or on the way back from a beach. The email may be a bit shorter. On to the news:

PUB, RESTAURANT & DRINK PRODUCERS:

• Per MCA, The Restaurant Group will pilot a new concept called Firejacks in a former Coast to Coast site in Northampton. Firejacks will focus on ‘serving the best steak and burgers’ with the slogan Meat, Fire, Friends.

• Per PMA magazine, JD Wetherspoon has been accused of paying some staff below the minimum wage with the Socialist Worker saying some pay was as low as £6.08. One JDW pub manager confirmed the low rate in an undercover investigation by the socialist newspaper. JDW has denied this claim and said the low rate must be historic.

• Starbucks has said that it is to buy the 50% of its East China JV that it does not already own for $1.3bn. The co says ‘unifying the Starbucks business under a full company-operated structure in China reinforces our commitment to the market and is a full demonstration of our confidence in the current local leadership team.’

• The BBPA has welcomed clarification re migration post March 2019. CEO Brigid Simmonds reports ‘I very much welcome the review by the Migration Advisory Committee – it is vital that there is a full understanding of the skills needs of all sectors, including the soft skills that are so vital to many pubs.’ Ms Simmonds says ‘we will certainly be taking up Amber Rudd’s call to engage fully in the process.’

• BBPA points out around 20% of pub workforce is from overseas. In some urban areas it is much higher. BBPA says ‘employers need more certainly in this key area, so they can plan staffing and training needs for the future.’

• Buffalo Wild Wings in the UK is to test beer delivery.

• Dunkin’ Donuts is to simplify the menus at 700 more locations by October, bringing the total to 1,000.

• McDonald’s leads the way in the US in terms of the frequency of customer visits. In June, customers visited the chain 2.3 times on average.

• Amazon prime has launched in Singapore, signalling the start of expansion into South East Asia. The tech giant will compete with Chinese rival Alibaba in the region.

HOLIDAYS, LEISURE TRAVEL & HOTEL:

• Hilton has reported positive Q2 trading. It says that some legislative uncertainty is holding back trade.

• STR reports US REVPAR +0.5% in the week to 22 July.

• Abta and Aito have hit back at the government surcharge ban happening in January, with Abta saying ‘Preventing companies passing on often excessively high charges when taking card payments risks increasing prices for everyone.’

• Following the Foreign and Commonwealth Office changing its advice against travel to Tunisia, Thomson and First Choice will look into re-introducing the destination. The FCO still advises against travel to ‘parts of the south and interior and certain areas near the borders with Algeria and Libya’.

• AccorHotels recorded ‘solid’ H1 results with net profit increasing €3m to €77m and revenue growing 8.3% yoy to €922m. The acquisitions of Availpro and TravelKeys consolidated AccorHotel’s position in the accomodation-sharing and digital sectors, according to the firm. AccorInvest was seperated into its own legal entity during the half, with ongoing discussions about opening it up to outside investors.

• Kuoni’s Far East brochure focuses on private pool villas following ‘increased customer demand for private villas with pools’.

• HRG reported that trading was ‘in line with expectations’ ahead of the firm’s AGM on July 27th. The company said travel clients remained ‘cautious’ over the last few months but added that its financial position was ‘robust’.

• Eurostar revealed ‘robust’ business travel bookings with corporate passenger numbers rising by 5% for the first half of 2017. Overall passenger numbers increased 1% to 5.04m with sales revenue up 11% to £455m (a 6% increase considering currency fluctuations).

OTHER LEISURE:

• Sky reported an increase in annual revenues of 10% to £12.9bn, with EBITDA falling 3% to £2.14bn in the year to 30th June. The company described the results as ‘excellent’ in the context of a £629m outlay to secure the rights to the Premier League.

FINANCE & MARKETS:

• Aberdeen could be the city worst hit by a hard Brexit reports the Centre for Cities

YESTERDAY’S LATER TWEETS:

• Later tweets: M&B reports ‘trading since the half year has been strong, with like-for-like sales growth of 2.6% over the 10 week period’

• M&B says has continued ‘the momentum reported at the half year and out-performance to the market.’

• Just Eat EBITDA +38%, Britvic is in line, Diageo sales +15%, AB InBev sales up profits down. See email

• Tim Warrillow, the chief executive of Fever-Tree, is almost £30m richer after selling 1.5m shares

• Thomas Cook Q3 numbers good, body language positive, Turkey ‘recovering well’. Shares up despite strong run. See email’

• Escape Hunt updates on expansion. Says ‘first 6 months of 2017 is exactly in line with our expectations.’

• Listed car dealers had a bad day yesterday on news they weren’t trading well. Seems logical. Plenty more to come where that came from??