Category: Drinks

A few thoughts on business models and alternative use of space

Structural change in Retail – long clicks, short bricks… Boohoo and Asos’ share prices speak for themselves but traditional retail has had a much tougher ride of late. The department store sector is shrinking and the only winner is John Lewis. When a newer, fresher rival is taking share in a contracting market, that spells…

M&B’s tone points to tricky 2017; a tough year might hit some harder than others…

The factors driving capacity: cheap cash and new ways of raising it… Low interest rates have allowed casual dining concepts to flourish. Crowdfunding has also provided an avenue of funding for operators. This has resulted in growth for growth’s sake and the saturation of the restaurant market. Several operators have built substantial estates in as…

60 Seconds on Rising Interest Rates, Inflation, etc.

Inflation is coming – who stands to lose out? Interest rates have been kept at 0.5% since January 2009 (even falling as low as 0.25%), distorting the markets Crowdfunding has also played its part wrt excess funding; AltFi research shows that of the 751 companies that have crowdfunded on the UK’s largest platforms, some 88…

Punch Taverns — improving operator, share price yet to catch up

Stagnant share price despite investment and debt reduction: Today, Punch’s shares languish on a lowly PE ratio of 5.7 (106p). They have been on as little as 4.8 times earnings (89p) this year, and have fallen by 15% since the start of 2016 (Jan ’16: 125p). Yet this lacklustre performance belies the busy activity of…

Tread carefully; recent FTSE rally inflates already hard-to-justify valuations

A stock picker’s market? Stock prices — when did 25x EPS & a 2% yield become ‘cheap’? Recent and regular profit warnings hint at a degree of fragility re. stretched valuations. Restaurant Group, Whitbread, Next, and Sports Direct have all seen their share prices come undone after being rated in the high-teens to mid-twenties on…