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PIER, CCL, Chipotle, Pernod, trading, fiscal drag, VE Day & other:

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

Well, the weather was good until it wasn’t.

The first bit Up North at least and, given that a late Easter should be accompanied, on average, by better weather than one plonked in the middle of a March snowstorm, pubs’ till should have been ringing.

Anyway, the Mighty Hull City is making sure that the season goes to the wire. And not for the best of reasons as we could still very easily be relegated. Win one, lose one, draw one seems to be the order of the day

Still, it’s another short week.

And shorter still for some as we’ll likely to overwhelmed by a blizzard of ‘out-of-office’ replies when we hit send. So we’ll keep this short and move on to the news:

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PUBS & RESTAURANTS:

Trading:

The Oxford Partnership’s latest Market Watch Snapshot for March 2025 suggests that ‘stout has taken centre stage in draught beer performance, recording an impressive 17.1% uplift in the latest week and a year-to-date growth of 12.4%.’ it says this marks ‘a departure from the declining popularity of core and craft beer segments….’

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Consumer behaviour:

CGA reports that there are ‘glimmers of recovery amid continued cost of living pressures’. It says that there is ‘growing polarisation in On Premise behaviours across Great Britain and Ireland, as the cost of living remains a chief concern to both footfall and spend in the On Premise.’ It says ‘there are tentative signs of recovery but ongoing pressures on household finances continue to shape channel engagement, consumer footfall, and brand spend across the board….’

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Fiscal drag:

The OBS has reported that some eight million people will be pushed into paying tax, or paying tax at a higher rate, as a result of successive governments freezing tax thresholds. This will clearly take money out of people’s pockets as the government continues to attempt to fix its funding shortfall…

Opening hours:

Pubs will be allowed to stay open until 1am on VE day this year, the 80th anniversary of victory in Europe…

Other news:

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said that the UK population should and would accept chlorinated chicken as a part of a trade deal with the US….

COMPANY NEWS:

World spirits no2 Pernod Ricard has reported Q3 sales (the quarter to end-June) down 3% on last year at €2,278 million. Cumulative nine month sales are now down 4% on last year. Pernod maintains that its performance has been ‘resilient’…

Meatliquor founder Scott Collins speaks to The Telegraph saying that had he known what the financial climate was going to be, he would not have bought his bar in Covent Garden. Bloodsports, which opened earlier this year…

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Chipotle Mexican Grill in the US has announced it has signed a development agreement to open restaurants in Mexico for the first time…

The Sun reports that the restaurant chain set up by Sir Lewis Hamilton and Leonardo DiCaprio has been forced to close all its outlets in the UK after six troubled years in business. It says that Vegan food outlet Neat Burger, set up by the celebrities in 2019, has confirmed its British stores are now shutting, with the potential loss of around 150 jobs.

The Daily Mail reports that former F1 champion Fernando Alonso has bought a stake of over 20% in Sticks ‘n’ Sushi alongside McWin Capital Partners, the PE backer.

HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL:

Brighton’s Pier’s shareholders meet today at 10an to vote on the proposal to delist the company’s shares…

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TTG reports that Carnival Corporation is taking steps to close down Carnival Cruise Line’s UK team and “sunset” this area of the business in May. It adds that the proposed closure will come into effect on 12 May….

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Gatwick remains the UK’s worst airport for flight delays with an average delay of 23.6 minutes. Stansted is next at 20.3 minutes followed by Manchester, also on 20.3 minutes. Towards the bottom of the worst 10 airports are Luton at 18.6 minutes and Heathrow at 18 minutes.

Accor is reported to have 17 hotels in its Americas region via the acquisition of hotel management contracts from Royal Holiday Group.

OTHER LEISURE:

The FT reports that ‘crypto casino takings have soared to tens of billions of dollars a year…as gamblers bypass blocks in their home countries to bet on unregulated offshore platforms.’ It says ‘despite being illegal in most countries, wagers paid in cryptocurrency last year generated $81.4bn in gross gaming revenue, the difference between bets taken in and winnings paid out, according to research by anti-online-crime platform Yield Sec. This represents a fivefold rise since 2022.

Netflix last week beat Wall Street expectations for Q1 numbers saying that revenue had risen to $10.54bn, ahead of analysts’ estimates of $10.52bn. EPS of 661c beat estimates of around 571c.

A US judge has decided in favour of the US Department of Justice and ruled that Google has a monopoly in online advertising technology. Google maintains that ‘publishers have many options and they choose Google because our ad tech tools are simple, affordable and effective.’

FINANCE & MARKETS:

Tariffs & trade. China has said it will hit out at countries that make deals with the US that hurt its own interests. China further cautions against appeasing the US. The US has said it will impose port fees on Chinese ships in an attempt to revive shipbuilding in America.

US President Donald Trump has said that Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s contract ‘termination cannot come fast enough.’ He says Mr Powell should be aggressively cutting interest rates. He says ‘the USA is getting rich on tariffs.’

The US dollar & US stocks fell yesterday as President Donald Trump apparently moved to undermine Fed Chair Jerome Powell. He called him ‘a major loser’ for not cutting interest rates more rapidly.

The IMF has suggested that trade tariff uncertainty will negatively impact global growth, but it is still not forecasting a global recession.

Sterling up sharply against the US$ at $1.3403 and little changed vs the Euro at €1.1629. Oil a shade higher at $66.72. UK 10 year gilt yield down 4 basis points at 4.57%. World markets mixed with US lower yesterday. London set to open around 64 points higher as at 6.30am.

RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB:

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