Insolvencies, inflation, cost of living, trading, CCH, WTB & other:

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

Catching up on admin & pushed for time as I nipped up to Edinburgh on Friday and very nice it was too.

A bit of sunshine made a pleasant change as it had driven the clouds well above head height for once in the Scottish capital.

And then it was back down to York, The Capital of the North and shortly it’ll be London, The Capital of the Other Bits so, without further ado, let’s move on to the news.

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PUBS & RESTAURANTS:

Inflation:

Tesco boss Ken Murphy has said there are ‘encouraging early signs’ that price rises are starting to slow…

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Cost of living:

A number of mortgage providers put up some rates and withdrew other offers last week. The Bank of England will put rates up again on Thursday. The average mortgage cost is up by around £3,000 a year…..

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Savings running out. The Telegraph reports that the IFS states that 2.9 million middle income mortgage holders would exhaust their savings….

Current trading:

CGA has reported that the recent heatwave and top flight football have helped ‘drinks sales beat inflation in early June.’ It says ‘drinks sales hit double-digit year-on-year growth last week as warm weather sent consumers flocking to pubs and bars….’

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Weaker beers:

The Telegraph has suggested that brewers are cutting the ABV on some of their drinks to combat inflationary costs. it says ‘first shrinkflation, now drinkflation: Beers get weaker as brewers scramble to cut costs…’

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UK planning:

McDonald’s has criticised the UK’s property planning environment. UK CEO Alistair Macrow tells the Telegraph that ‘British expansion plans are being scuppered by bureaucracy and planning red tape…’

Other news:

The government has delayed its ban on two-for-one junk food deals for at least another two years. This will put the cost-increasing measure the other side of the next General Election…

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The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has launched a market study into railway station catering in order to assess the structure of the market, the effectiveness of competition and outcomes for consumers….

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A study commissioned by Barclaycard Payments has found that the average adult is willing to spend nearly £30 more at restaurants which look ‘good’ on social media….

Insolvencies. Company insolvencies in England and Wales rose by 40% in May to the highest level since at least 2019. The HMRC (amongst others) has become more active in pursuing debtors.

Global market. Straits Research has suggested that the global alcoholic drinks market is set to exceed $2 trillion (to hit Us$2,001 billion) by 2031…

COMPANY NEWS:

Coca-Cola HBC AG has announced that it is to buy the Finlandia vodka brand from Brown-Forman Corporation for US$220 million….

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Potential Whitbread pub disposal. The Times reports that Whitbread will only sell its 250-strong portfolio of pub-restaurants to established pub operators….

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Restaurant Group. Sky News reports that crisis-hit Odey Asset Management has sold 2% of Restaurant Group to Oasis Management, taking the latter up to around 14.5% ‘according to insiders’.

HOP Vietnamese is to open two new sites, on in London on Bond Street and the second in Manchester at the Trafford Centre.

Taco Bell is to open its first unit in Lancashire, in Blackpool, later this month.

Tribeology Ltd, which currently markets the Bodega Bay Hard Seltzer brand, has launched its second brand, Tribeology Cocktails.

Jeremy Clarkson is reported to have lost a bid to reopen his Diddly Squat farm restaurant in Chadlington, Oxfordshire.

London operator Brew By Numbers is reported to have appointed Evelyn Partners as administrators….

Amber Taverns is set to open three new sites in Cheshire, Country Durham and Ayrshire in June, with the County Durham pub being a former Wetherspoons….

HSBC UK has granted a £4.5m funding package to Newcastle-based Vaulkhard Group…

HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL:

Portugal reports a record Q1 for tourism, with overnight stays from the UK growing by 8.2% in April 2023, compared with April 2019, representing 18.1% of total Portugal overnight stays among all non-residents. In July, there will be 906 flights per week departing from 19 UK airports to Portugal.

Around 100 security officers, terminal technicians and aircraft refuellers at Birmingham Airport are being  balloted for strike action in a dispute over pay….

Manchester airport handled more than 2.5 million passengers last month. In the current month, Manchester airport handled over 100,000 passengers on a single day on June 9 as Manchester City fans flew to Istanbul.

OTHER LEISURE:

TIGA is calling for a Video Games Investment Fund to be implemented as the next step of government support for the creative industries….

Spotify has mutually agreed to end its deal with Harry and Meghan, deciding not to renew their podcast Archetypes. The contract was estimated to be worth $25m (£18m) in late 2020.

Cineworld. The Daily Mail reports that ‘Cineworld’s boss and his top management team will be paid up to £27million combined to leave the cinema operator after it emerges from Chapter 11 proceedings next month.’

FINANCE & MARKETS:

Big week for economic stats & news with the UK’s CPI numbers announced on Wednesday and the Bank of England due to update on (and put up again) interest rates on Thursday.

Rightmove has reported that average monthly house prices fell for the first time this year in June. It says that prices were marginally down and are 0.6% up year on year….

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Sterling $1.281 and €1.1714. Oil $75.52. UK 10yr gilt yield 4.41%. Markets heading down on Friday & London set to open down around 34pts as at 6.30am.

RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB:

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