Whitbread FY, Loungers update, PPHE, footfall, Prezzo, demand & other:

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

Watching the various Champions’ League and Europa League matches last week, I couldn’t help wondering a) what the price of all the haircuts on the pitch was and b) what all the tattoos would cost.

Because, with sleeve tattoos apparently costing between £1,000 and £6,000 – prison tattoos inscribed with a pin, spit, and a bit of Biro ink are admittedly much cheaper – and a ‘good’ haircut maybe setting you back maybe £100 to £500 around Alderley Edge or Chigwell, you must be looking at maybe a hundred grand running around on the pitch (including substitutes) and that, to an accountant from Hull, is a lot of money.

Anyway, thanks to those who suggested netting, model owls and air rifles to dissuade the bluetit from waking us up by hammering its beak against the bedroom windows at stupid o’clock every morning. We won’t resort to the latter but let’s move on to the news:

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WHITBREAD – FINAL RESULTS:

Whitbread has reported full year numbers and our comments thereon are set out below.

Headline numbers: Whitbread reports a ‘significant profit uplift to above pre-pandemic levels, driven by Premier Inn UK that continues to outperform the UK midscale and economy market.’ The company reports revenue of £2.6bn, up from £1.7bn last year and from £2.1bn in FY20, the first year before Covid hit numbers. WTB reports ‘we are making good progress in Germany, with 51 hotels open, giving us confidence that we can achieve our long-term target of 10-14% return on our £1bn of committed capital.’ It says EPS for the year just ended was 162.9p (FY22: minus 2.5p) and it is paying a full year dividend of 74.2p (FY22: 34.7p).

Current trading & Outlook: WTB says ‘we see considerable opportunities for growth, both in the UK and Germany, driven by the strength of our operating model and the structural decline in the independent hotel sector.’ It adds that ‘current trading remains strong, despite macroeconomic uncertainty, with encouraging lead indicators.’

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PUBS & RESTAURANTS:

Footfall:

Commenting on footfall, Springboard has reported that, last week, ‘footfall across UK retail destinations rose marginally from the week before.’ It was up 3.1%. Springboard says ‘this headline rate is deceptive, as all the rise emanated from a rebound in footfall on Sunday 16th April and to some degree on Monday 17th April, which was expected as it followed a significant drop in footfall on Easter Sunday (9th April) when stores were closed and Easter Monday (10th April)…’

Optimism:

Peter Martin, contributing editor at the MCA, writes ‘demand is strong. Consumers are going out to eat and drink in pubs and restaurants, no matter what you might read and hear from the mass media…’

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Demand – short term outlook:

Greene King CEO Nick Mackenzie has said that pubs should receive a “much-needed” coronation boost in the next couple of weeks. With three Bank holidays to come over the next four weeks or so, consumers will have every opportunity to spend…

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Labour:

UKH reports that labour shortages in hospitality are 48% more acute than they were before Covid. CEO Kate Nicholls says shortages are nowhere ‘more keenly felt than in hospitality, where we have a proven track record of generating growth but are currently being held back by damaging labour shortages.’ EU citizens, older workers and others have left the workforce since Brexit, the pandemic and the recent economic slowdown.

Other news:

Foodservice analyst Peter Backman reports that there are tentative signs of stability emerging across the hospitality sector when it comes to sales. Mr Backman says that there have been ‘wild gyrations over the three years since the start of covid’ but things ‘are now settling down, even though are not yet back to ‘normal’.

CGA reports that Mexican beer is the driving force behind imported beer growth in the US on-trade, with the country responsible for 79% of growth, followed by Irish beer (10%), Italian (2%), Japanese (2%), Dutch (1%) and all other countries combined (5%).

COMPANY NEWS:

Loungers has updated on trading for its full year to 16 April saying that it is seeing ‘continued industry-leading like for like sales growth; record revenues for the full year’. It adds that it is making ‘good progress on [its] accelerated site roll-out, with 29 new openings in the year.’

Loungers reports that it ‘continued to deliver industry-leading like for like sales growth, up 7.4% on a one-year basis and 17.6% ahead of pre-pandemic levels on a three year basis.’ It adds that total revenue for the financial year was £283.5m, up 19.5% on the previous year (FY22: £237.3m)….

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Prezzo has announced that it is to close a further 46 sites across the country, following a strategic review of the business. Some 810 members of staff could lose their jobs. Prezzo will be left with 97 sites and 2,000 around staff…

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Deliveroo CEO Will Shu has criticised the CMA’s decision to launch an investigation into whether Amazon should have been allowed to take a $500m stake in the company. He says the review was “extremely painful, the hardest thing I’ve had to deal with”.

Coca Cola in the US yesterday evening reported Q1 numbers that beat expectations. The company’s shares rose to an eight month high before edging back. Coca Cola reported that prices rose by 11% on the same quarter lastd year. Net income rose to $3.11bn or 72c per share from $2,78bn or 64c per share a year ago…

Punch Pubs & Co is ‘making changes to its Executive team with two people in new roles within the group.’ HR Director Jackie Burn will leave Punch this week and Laura Cavendish, who has worked within the People Team at Punch for 15 years, has been promoted into the role.

Subway, which is currently for sale, has announced that same-store sales in North America rose by 11.7% in Q1.

Restaurant group MJMK will next month be seeking to raise £1m via a crowdfunding campaign to fund growth.

Bristol-based Chapple & Jenkins has bought Lansdell Soft Drinks for an undisclosed sum.

HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL:

PPHE Hotels reports that it is to open a second Radisson hotel. It further reports that it has secured the required regulatory approvals for its recently launched European Hospitality Real Estate Fund.

Booking.com has conducted a global survey of 33,000 travellers and has found that some 60% of those surveyed in the UK believe the environment will get worse in the next six months. Some 76% think the cost-of-living crisis will also worsen…

Sky News reports that booking app Seatfrog has secured £6m in new backing from shareholders including VC firm Pembroke.

OTHER LEISURE:

A poll undertaken by Gambling with Lives has found that 52% of respondents said they would favour a ban on all gambling advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

Walt Disney Co has begun a second round of layoffs that could lead to the loss of around 7,000 jobs.

FINANCE & MARKETS:

The Labour Party has said that the UK suffer the fastest and harshest price rises in the G7. The party blamed the economic upset on Brexit and political mismanagement followed by turmoil, mini-Budget disasters and further incompetence.

Former chief economist of the Bank of England Andy Haldane says inflation will fall rapidly when energy hikes annualise…

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Expectations for the terminal rate of interest are hovering around 5%.

Rightmove reports that the average price of a home coming onto market this month rose by only 0.2%, less than would be expected at this time of year.

~The CEBR says ‘although inflation is declining gradually, it remains persistently high.’ It says ‘despite this, and the recent instability in the global banking sector, we are more optimistic about the economic outlook and now expect the UK to avoid a recession this year…’

EY Parthenon reports that the number of companies warning on profits is on the up.

Sterling mixed at $1,248 and €1.1288. Oil up at $82.71. UK 10yr gilt yield up 3bps at 3.78%. World markets mixed yesterday & London set to open down some 29pts as at 6.30am.

RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB:

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