Wages, delivery costs, mortgages, Vianet, Everard’s, Newbury & other:

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

I bought a lottery ticket for the first time in many years over the weekend and, in a sign that my luck has held rock-steady in the half-decade or so since I last put my hand in my pocket, I didn’t get a single one of the six numbers right.

And you don’t get a prize for that, apparently.

So, that’s a bit more cash down the drain but, as the tickets were being advertised, quite possibly in breach of various rules about soliciting gambling, over the tannoy in a certain shop, I felt I had to buy one. I just had to. The advertising was very much like the Black Bin Bags sketch in Phoenix Nights – Black Bin Bags. 

Anyway, bottom line is I’ll be sticking to the day job for at least a little while longer. On to the news:

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PUBS & RESTAURANTS:

Wages and employment:

The ONS has released employment and wage data for May 2023 saying that payroll numbers are up 1.6% y-o-y with pay up by 7.0% on a year ago…

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Delivery costs:

New York City has announced it is to set the minimum wage for app-based delivery workers at $17.96 on 12 July. The minimum wage will rise to $19.96 in April 2025….

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Cost of living crisis:

Mortgage rates are set to rise further, with David Hollingworth of London & Country saying there will be more deals withdrawn and replaced with ones at a higher rate this week. Mortgage rates have gone up about 0.5 percentage points in the last month…

Analysis by Capital Economics has found that 5.8 million households will be paying mortgages with interest rates of 3% or more by the end of next year, 2.6 million higher than the current figure of 3.2 million.

Energy costs:

JMW Solicitors is planning to launch a ‘David vs Goliath’ legal case against energy firms such as British Gas, EDF, Scottish Power and E.ON on behalf of hundreds of businesses….

Other news:

CBRE comments that ‘despite periods of economic hardship, squeeze on spending and slow growth, the leisure industry has fared well and proven itself resilient to headwinds….’

Springboard reports that footfall at UK retail parks fell by 3.6% week-on-week in the week to 10 June compared to the previous week….

Plastic bottles. Water filter manufacturer Brita has added its voice to that of environmentalists calling for greater regulation of the bottled water industry…

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COMPANY NEWS:

Vianet has reported full year numbers to end-March saying that revenue increased 6.7% to £14.11m (FY2022: £13.22m) and gross margin increased slightly to c. 66% (FY2022: c.65%). The company says that PBT was £0.45m (FY2022: £0.17m loss), basic earnings per share was 0.56p (FY2022: 0.65p) – these numbers net of £0.29m tax charge vs FY2022 credit of £0.36m – and the group has reinstated its dividend with a proposed final payout of 0.5p per share….

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Wiyo, which stands for ‘What is your Order’ is to open its first drive-through Asian food to go restaurant in what it says is a move to make it the ‘McDonald’s of Asian food’…

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Starbucks has been hit with a $25.6m settlement that has been awarded to the fired regional director who alleged that she was fired after the arrests of two Black men in a Philadelphia café. She maintained – and the court held – that she had been made a “sacrificial lamb” to quell a public relations crisis.

Arcade bar company NQ64 has opened its biggest site to date, on Old Street in London.

Virtual shooting range and cocktail bar company Point Blank is reported to have been put into liquidation.

Plant-based meat manufacturer Meatless Farms has made the majority of its staff redundant. The company blames a fall in demand for vegan products.

Some 2,000 workers are to lose their jobs as the Sheffield-based delivery firm Tuffnells Parcels Express has gone into administration.

Leicestershire brewer & pub operator Everards has reported an increase versus 2021 in both turnover and profitability for the financial year ending September 2022, with turnover of £31.4m (£15m prior year) and profit before tax of £2.7m (£3.5m loss prior year)….

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Leadenhall Market in the City of London has announced three new food & drink outlets to be added to the market’s portfolio during June. The new brands will be restaurant Argentinian Grill, bubble tea shop Yi Fang & Lebanese restaurant Baba Ghanoush.

Imbiba-backed Leisure TV Rights reported revenue of £3m in the three months to 30 April 2023, beating the company’s previous best quarter by more than 41%….

Winchester-based Red Cat Brewing (unrelated to the much larger Red Cat Pub Co) has entered administration…

F1 Arcade has secured a £30m investment which will support the competitive socialising brand’s international expansion plans, primarily in the US….

Flat Iron will open a 120-cover restaurant in central Cambridge in July.

Alternative protein manufacturer Plant and Bean Ltd has entered administration, citing significant inflation across its cost base, primarily in food and energy prices, as well as operational issues which periodically interrupted production. Interpath were appointed Joint Administrators.

HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL:

Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye has said he does not expect to cancel flights this summer as a result of strikes by security staff. Next weekend’s strikes have been postponed…

Heathrow saw 6.7m passengers in May, driven by a triple bank holiday and strong demand for transatlantic routes. North American travel increased by 34% YoY to 1.6m. Airlines are expecting a record summer driven by post-pandemic pent-up demand.

OTHER LEISURE:

888 has announced that it has completed the sale of its Latvian business to PAF Consulting.

Newbury Racecourse Chairman, Dominic Burke, will update on trading at the company’s AGM later today. He will say that ‘following two years of restrictions and disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2022 saw the business return to normal trading with growth reported in the underlying business….’

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The Times reports that America’s competition watchdog moved to temporarily block Microsoft’s $68.7 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard last night….

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British bicycle designer and retailer Planet X has been rescued from administration by Winlong Garments in a pre-pack deal. Administrators from Interpath Advisory, Howard Smith and Rick Harrison were appointed and helped with the sale which involved a seven week process.

FINANCE & MARKETS:

For employment data, see Pubs & Restaurants above.

Sterling weaker at $1.2531 and €1.1621. Oil price lower at $72.22. UK 10yr gilt yield up 10bps at 4.34%. World markets better yesterday & London set to open up around 32pts as at 6.30am.

RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB:

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