Langton Capital – 2022-10-26 – WTB, new PM, Carlsberg, Coke, Virgin Wines, VNET, Flutter, Meta etc.:
WTB, new PM, Carlsberg, Coke, Virgin Wines, VNET, Flutter, Meta etc.:A DAY IN THE LIFE: There are many words out there that I come across from time to time that I understand but would never use in conversation. I might write them down, from time to time. Like ‘mendacious’ or ‘tantamount’ but, in speech, why say ‘that’s tantamount to mendacity’ when you could say it’s ‘close to lying’. As we’ve got another new PM, the above may be moot – there’s another one – but there are also words that I would like to use, such as ‘behove’, that would be nice to slip into conversation but a) it would sound a bit weird and b) I don’t know if ‘it behoves me’ or whether one is ‘behoven’ to. MS word didn’t like that last word. It underlined it in red but, as we’re a bit pushed for time, it behoves me to move on to the news. Was that right? 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. Prices for the Premium at time of writing are £345 for one subscription, £595 for multiple, both plus VAT. Or sign up for easy in, easy out monthly option HERE https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=87YUG2Z5W7PSN WHITBREAD H1 RESULTS: Whitbread (WTB) has held its H1 analysts’ meeting and our comments thereon are set out below. UK hotel trading: WTB says there has been a rebound in UK sales, which are up +101.4% on FY22 and +34.8% on FY20. F&B is currently 5% below pre-covid levels, but the company highlighted the importance of its food offer, saying that where it offered F&B it has higher RevPAR. It claims that Premier Inn is facing a favourable trading backdrop in the UK with high consumer demand. The company says it has been judiciously taking rate and states that its focus is driving occupancy. WTB is just slightly below the market on rate, maintaining its position as the value proposition….. • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. PUBS & RESTAURANTS: More politics / continued calls for help. The BBPA has urged Rishi Sunak to recognise the importance of pubs and breweries before it’s ‘too late’… Consumer discretionary income: Cost of essentials. The ONS reports that the price of budget food in supermarkets rose by 17% in the year to September, with pasta up 60%, tea up 50% and cooking oil up 65%. Other everyday items such as chips, bread, biscuits and milk also recorded large increases. Mortgage costs: Per City AM, Morgan Stanley has warned that there is ‘significant stress’ building in the UK’s mortgage market… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Other news: The Telegraph reports that restaurants are the canary in the recession coal mine… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. In the US, a MGH survey of TikTok users has found that 53% of millennial TikTok users have visited a restaurant after seeing it on the social media platform… COMPANY NEWS: The Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company has put its historic Jennings Brewery site in Cockermouth up for sale with offers invited over £750k. The brewery is reported to have been operating below capacity for a number of years. Carlsberg Marston’s says ‘Jennings has operated below capacity for a number of years and has seen a significant decline in volumes, the impact of which has been made more significant by the pandemic. Over the course of the past year, we have carefully considered all options for the brewery and have reached the extremely difficult decision to close the brewery.’ Despite being down around 1% earlier in the day, Whitbread’s shares were little changed yesterday after the group announced that profits had bounced back to above their pre-pandemic levels. Coca-Cola yesterday reported Q3 numbers and raised its forecasts for the full year as it said demand had not fallen in the face of price increases that it had put through. The group’s shares rose 2.3% after the announcement. Coke says that average selling prices rose by 12% in Q3… Beer flow measurement and internet-of-things company Vianet has updated on trading for H1 to end-September saying that staff shortages and supply chain pressures have ‘led to an increased demand for our data and analysis as the requirement for operators to have a detailed understanding of actual trading at the outlet level is particularly acute during challenging times…’ Virgin Wines has reported full year numbers to 1 July saying that, excluding exceptional costs, ‘profit before tax was virtually unchanged at FY22, at £5.1m (FY21: £5.2m), and up £2.3m (+83%) from FY20.’ The company goes on to comment on current trading… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. New World Trading Company has announced the opening of a new bar and restaurant concept called ‘The North Light’ in Chester early next year. NWTC reported revenue up 16% to £59.9m in the year to 31 March 2021, and announced plans to open 5-8 sites a year. Albert’s Schloss is set to open on Bold Street, Liverpool on 5 December, featuring European dishes throughout the day. Lucky Voice, the karaoke room meets cocktail bar concept, plans to double the size of its estate to 10 venues in the next two years. The company plans to have a ‘significantly expanded’ presence in London and new sites in Manchester and Birmingham, along with further franchise development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Meal and ingredients delivery company Parsley Box yesterday saw its shares more than halve as it announced that the board ‘is in the process of assessing the various potential sources of capital available to the Company to fund its medium term growth plans. This assessment includes consideration of whether the Company’s status as a publicly traded company continues to be in the interests of shareholders as a whole…’ Per Propel, Gaucho has appointed advisors to review funding options, including a sale of the business. Parent company Rare Restaurants reported revenue of £53m and EBITDA of £10.8m in its last financial year… James Watt, the co-founder of BrewDog, is handing out free pints to the public for three days this week until Wednesday to spread ‘positivity and good vibes’… Yum Brands is reported to have agreed to sell its KFC operations in Russia to Smart Service, which is operated by its existing KFC franchisees Konstantin Yurievich Kotov and Andrey Eduardovich Oskolkov. YUM has 1,112 KFC restaurants in the country. Yum sold its Russian Pizza Hut operations in June, also to a local operator. HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL: MPs reportedly have just ‘hours to intervene’ and stop the closure of Doncaster Sheffield airport, with owner Peel Group set to wind down operations from the end of October, stating that the airport was not financially viable. Eurocontrol has revised down its aviation recovery forecast with a return to 2019 levels of traffic now not expected until 2025, a year later than earlier expectations… The Inn Collection Group (ICG) has acquired the historic St Kilda Hotel in Llandudno, marking its third site in Wales. The acquisition brings the Newcastle-based operator up to 33 sites. OTHER LEISURE: Flutter shares were strong yesterday, up 5.6%, on raised hopes that the company will report improved trading. Alphabet, owner of Google and YouTube, yesterday reported Q3 numbers saying that sales had risen by 6% in the quarter. This was the weakest quarterly growth in nearly ten years (excluding the pandemic). Profits fell by around 30% to $13.9bn in the quarter, as YouTube ad revenues fell for the first time on record… Microsoft yesterday beat expectations for its quarter with revenues of $50.12bn against $45.32bn a year earlier and analysts’ forecasts of $49.61bn. Spotify yesterday reported Q3 losses larger than expected and its shares fell by around 7% in extended trading. The 99c per share loss compared with estimates of a loss of around 85c. Revenue was 3.04 billion euros vs. 3.02 billion expected. The company reports 456 million monthly active users for the quarter, up 20% year over year, and 195 million paid subscribers, up 13% on a year ago. Reuters reports that some of Twitter’s heaviest users are beginning to Tweet less. Reuters says ‘Twitter is struggling to keep its most active users – who are vital to the business – engaged.’ Facebook and WhatsApp owner Meta has been told in an open letter by shareholder Altimeter Capital Management that it should cut costs and streamline its business. A WhatsApp outage for over an hour on Monday morning disrupted millions of users. In the UK alone, over 40m users were affected, with hundreds of millions more in dozens of countries. FINANCE & MARKETS: The CBI has reported that ‘UK manufacturers reported a further fall in output in the three months to October, but expect production to pick up in the coming quarter.’ The CBI’s latest quarterly Industrial Trends Survey suggests that, ‘with costs growth remaining exceptionally strong and the share of firms citing worries about access to skilled labour reaching a 49-year high, business sentiment fell for a fourth consecutive quarter, and at the fastest rate since the early days of the covid pandemic.’ The survey suggests that ‘output in the three months to October fell slightly, and at a similar pace as in the quarter to September (balance of -4% from -4%).’ • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Sterling stronger yesterday (and up to 6wk highs) at $1.1452 and €1.1502. Oil lower at $92.65 and UK 10yr gilt yield down another 9bps at 3.63%. world markets broadly better yesterday but London set to open down around 16pts as at 6.30am. RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB: • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. |
|
