Langton Capital – 2023-02-01 – Energy costs, Entain, McDonald’s, Spotify, Snap, profit warnings & more:
Energy costs, Entain, McDonald’s, Spotify, Snap, profit warnings & more:A DAY IN THE LIFE: When watching playback on ITV or Channel Four it’s pretty much impossible to avoid ads and, maybe I’m kidding myself but they seem pretty ineffectual. Maybe ‘Go Compare’ and ‘We Buy Any Car’ have (or rather had, because they’re a few years ago now) jingles that stuck but many of the current batch are instantly forgettable. Or, if they’re not forgettable, then you don’t know what they’re about or the company’s name isn’t displayed or spoken prominently of often enough, so here’s an idea; songs. Madness (or rather Labi Siffre’s) ‘It Must Be Love’ would work. How about: ‘It must be cheese, cheese, cheese…nothing more, nothing less, cheese is the best’? I mean you wouldn’t get that out of your head in a hurry, would you? And, talking about heads, how about Kylie’s simple and straight to the point ‘I Can’t Get You Out of My Head’? Surely, there’s something you can attach to that that you would remember? Anyway, I seem to have given those ideas away for free. Back to the day job and on to the news: LANGTON EMAIL: The Free Email is now written in short form. Extended versions of many stories (after the ellipses) 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 PUBS & RESTAURANTS: The economy: See also Finance & Markets below. UKH comments on the IMF’s reduced projections for the UK saying it is ‘a frustrating reflection of the economic challenges that lie ahead for the country.’ CEO Kate Nicholls says ‘hospitality has proven it can generate rapid economic growth… Inflation: The Kantar Worldpanel has suggested that food prices rose at an annualised rate of 16.7% in the four weeks to 22 January, up from the 14.4% seen in December… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Energy costs: Mirroring comments from the NTIA yesterday, UKH has said that hospitality ‘businesses expect an 82% rise in their energy bills when the Government’s support is significantly reduced in April…’ • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. The CBI has updated its SME Trends Survey for the quarter to end-January saying that ’output contracted for a second successive quarter, but less quickly than in the previous quarter, and new orders stabilised following a steep drop in the three months to October…’ • 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 Scottish Licensed Trade Association has reported that 45% of the 180 members who took part in a survey may be looking at energy cost increases of more than 250%. It says 50% of respondents reported trade over Christmas and New Year was down… Meanwhile, a report by Frontier Economics has suggested that Minimum Unit Pricing in Scotland has had a “minimal” impact on the drinks trade… The consumer: Accountant RSM has surveyed 1,000 consumers and reports that ‘economic headwinds mean consumer facing businesses are tackling unparalleled challenges in 2023…’ • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. COMPANY NEWS: McDonald’s Corp has reported quarterly sales to end-December, saying that comparable sales are up 12.6% with US sales up 10.3%. The company says consolidated revenues were down by 1%, though they were up 5% in constant currency terms… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Boxpark Liverpool is reported to have been given the go-ahead and to have agreed a 15-year lease with Cains Brewery Village. Tesco has announced that up to 2,100 jobs are at risk… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Paperchase has entered administration. All jobs are likely to be lost as Tesco is only set to buy the brand. HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL: Hotel technology supplier Mews has reported that REVPAR was up by around 92% in 2022 across its client companies… OTHER LEISURE: Entain has updated on Q4 and full year numbers saying that ‘FY22 EBITDA now expected to be in the range of £985m – £995m, up c.12% year on year and ahead of expectations…’ • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Spotify yesterday reported Q4 and full year numbers saying that the number of active users rose to 489m (estimates around 478m) and premium customer numbers rose to 205m, also ahead of forecasts… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Snap Inc yesterday reported end-year numbers and said that revenues in its first quarter could fall by as much as 10%. The shares fell 14% on the comment. Advertising demand is reported to have weakened… PayPal has become the latest tech company to confirm job losses saying that it is shedding around 2,000 staff, or 7% of its workers.. FINANCE & MARKETS: Insolvency and restructuring trade body R3 has said that ‘2022 was the year the insolvency dam burst’. It says higher costs and lower levels of support pushed some 22,109 companies into insolvency in 2022 in England and Wales… CBRE expects to see a ‘moderate recession in 2023’ followed by recovery in 2024 as inflation falls further. It says ‘we expect GDP to fall by 0.8% in 2023’. The IMF yesterday mentioned a 0.6% fall this year… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. The Bank of England yesterday reported that the number of mortgage approvals in December fell to 35,600, the lowest since May 2020…. Brexit anniversary. The third anniversary of the UK leaving the EU brought forth a host of comments: City AM quotes the IMF’s forecasts and says ‘the UK is trailing its European economic peers.’ Transport Minister Richard Holden said he thought the IMF was wrong. PM Rishi Sunak says the UK has made “huge strides” since Brexit. Billionaire Guy Hands has called Brexit a “complete disaster” and a “bunch of total lies.” He said of Boris Johnson and the Tory Party that ‘what they did was throw the country and the NHS under the bus.’ Pollster John Curtice says 57% of voters would like to re-join the EU. Brexiter Eddie Truell said it wasn’t the Brexit he wanted, adding ‘I hoped we would see faster deregulation than has been the case.’ He says Brexit ‘was lose-lose in my opinion.’ The Unherd website reports that a majority in 649 of the UK’s 650 constituencies now believe that Brexit was a mistake. Boston, Lincs, is the exception. Bloomberg reported yesterday that Brexit is costing the UK economy £100 billion a year, with the effects spanning everything from business investment to the ability of companies to hire workers… Sterling weaker at $1.2314 and €1.1329. Oil up at $85.55. UK 10yr gilt yield unchanged again at 3.33%. Bank of England updates tomorrow. The Fed speaks today and the ECB also updates tomorrow. Markets heading better yesterday and FTSE100 set to open up around 10pts 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. |
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