Loungers’ meeting, Xmas bookings, Seedrs, DPP, RedCat etc.

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

Whenever I start to lose my faith in human nature, I’ve been clipped by a Deliveroo cyclist on the pavement or someone’s let a door slam in my face etc., I remember our trip, pre-Covid, to Canada when we found most of the people in most of the towns very, very agreeable.

There’s the francophone lorry driver between Montreal and Kingston who told me when I was queueing for poutine at a truck stop that I sounded like Gordon Ramsay (I most certainly do not) and the lady in the hotel in Quebec City who said my French was beautiful (clearly a major, major redefinition of that word) but mostly there’s the old geezer in Cobourg, a small town on Lake Ontario.

He’d overheard us talking and waddled over to say he loved England. Mind, he’d only been there once, albeit for two years between 1943 and 1945, but he really liked the county. Quickly working out that he needed to be somewhere between 90 and 150 years old, we chatted to him for a while until he wandered off to find his daughter, a delightful 70yr old, who was going to drive him home.

Ten minutes later, we were eating ice-creams when a car slowed down to honk at us & it was the old chap again. We thought he was in the drivers’ seat, but he wasn’t, the steering wheel was on the wrong side and he’d asked his daughter to drive him around to see if he could find us to wave at us one more time. I hope it made him as happy as it made us. Ahh. On to the news:

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LOUNGERS H1 ANALYSTS’ MEETING:

Following the release of its H1 numbers, Loungers hosted a meeting for analysts and our notes are set out below:

Trading: The group specialises in retailing all things to all people at all times of day. The company laid out how its 61% female clientele stretched across all age-groups and income groups and that they visited the operator’s sites at all times of day.

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PUBS & RESTAURANTS:

Christmas bookings:

Sky News reports that rule changes in restrictions are having a ‘chilling’ effect on Christmas bookings. Data from reservations website OpenTable said that diners became more cautious over the weekend after news of the Omicron variant came to light.

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The consumer:

Customers moved to new suppliers will face spot prices rather than the prices that were so low their suppliers went bust. This could impact their consumption of leisure goods & services. Ofgem reports that Zog Energy, which has about 11,700 domestic energy customers, ceased trading on Wednesday amid an ongoing surge in gas prices.

COMPANY & OTHER NEWS:

Crowdfunding:

Regarding crowdfunding, Seedrs is set to be acquired by American investing platform Republic for $100m, pending approval by Seedrs shareholders and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The acquisition will enable Seedrs to access US investors and deal flow as well as accelerate growth in the UK and Europe.’

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Misha Zelman and ex Harrods and Heston Blumenthal Marketing Lead, Ben Hedley, have opened Neyba, with its first site located on Westbourne Grove in Notting Hill. Neyba is a new multi-cuisine concept which will feature a menu designed by celebrity chefs.

The Times quotes RedCat (and former Greene King) boss Rooney Anand as saying his company is preparing to take a ‘half billion bet on the pub industry’. He says ‘some people have called it a brave move, some have called it a vanity project. But I’m a huge believer in the sector.’

DP Poland has announced that Mr Jeremy Dibb is to join the Board as Non-executive Director with effect from 1 January 2022. It says ‘Jeremy has a background working as an equity research analyst at Macquarie Capital Partners and Canaccord Genuity, where he was a director in the Metals and Mining Research team.’ The company says ‘Robert Morrish, Non-Executive Director, has informed the Board he plans to step down after 11 years of service. Following a period of handover to Mr Dibb, Mr Morrish will leave the Board on 1 March 2022.’

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The Drinks List shows that Gordon’s pink gin was the top UK gin brand, followed by Gordon’s standard gin. Overall gin value and volume rates decreased across the board at an average of 22.8% and 25% retrospectively.

Morrisons has partnered with StarStock to  help operators across the UK fulfil their food and drink order requirements. StarStock’s partnership with Morrisons gives pub, bar and restaurant operators across the UK direct, 24/7 access to products from Morrisons Market Street counters and its own brand range.   

Serial investor & Hill Capital founder Paul Campbell has told the MCA that he believes there is scope to improve the coffee offer across the UK.

Fullers reports that The Queen’s Head in Dorking has been named the winner of this year’s Griffin Trophy – the annual Pub of the Year competition from Fuller, Smith and Turner. The Griffin Trophy is open to all Fuller’s 210 Managed Pubs and Hotels and 174 Tenanted Inns.

In the US, Shake Shack will open its first-ever drive-thru location on Dec. 6 in Minnesota. Cracker Barrel is to operate its first ghost kitchen. It also offers two ‘virtual brands’ across a number of its units.

LEISURE TRAVEL & HOTELS:

The WHO has issued a correction to a travel advisory which initially stated those unwell or aged over 60 should avoid travel to areas with community transmission of Covid. The WHO has now confirmed this advice applied to those who were vulnerable or not fully-vaccinated.

Travel Weekly reports that Jet2holidays’ proportion of sales made by its independent travel agent partners increased during the pandemic to 31% this year. CEO Steve Heapy said ‘We have no upper limit on travel agent business or any lower limit on direct [sales].  We don’t want to penalise agent business; we want to get as much business as we can.’

UK travellers to France will have to show a negative Covid-19 test from Saturday. The rule will apply to all arrivals from outside the EU. A PCR or antigen test will be acceptable if taken within 48 hours of travel.

OTHER LEISURE:

Deloitte predicts the games console market will generate over £60bn globally in 2022, up 10% from 2021. Paul Lee, global head of technology, media and telecommunications research at Deloitte, said ‘We saw usage of consoles spike during lockdown, with many using their devices as a way to socialise when restrictions prevented people from meeting in person.’

Gear4music announces that it has completed the acquisition of AV Distribution Ltd. It says ‘AV Online is an online retailer of audio-visual equipment, including HiFi speakers and home cinema systems’ and adds ‘we are also pleased to report our systems and supply chain operations have performed well over the busy Black Friday and Cyber Monday period, and we continue to be confident that our full year financial results will be in line with the recently revised consensus market expectations.’

FINANCE & MARKETS:

The Markit PMI for the UK manufacturing sector in November reports that ‘UK manufacturers continued to face a challenging operating environment in November, as severely stretched supply chains disrupted production schedules and drove up input prices to the greatest extent in the 30-year survey history. The PMI nonetheless rose to a three-month high of 58.1 in November, up from 57.8 in October.

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UK house prices grew by 10% in November, according to the Nationwide Building Society, up from growth of 9.9% in October. The average price of a UK house was £252,687 in November – nearly 15% higher than March 2020, the start of the pandemic. 

Speaking of the word ‘transitory’, Jay Powell, chairman of the Fed, told US Congress: “It’s probably a good time to retire that word.”

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The OECD has said that the new Omicron strain of coronavirus threatens to boost inflation as outbreaks restrict production capacity whilst demand remains buoyant. The OECD says ‘even in more benign scenarios, ongoing coronavirus outbreaks may continue to restrict mobility in some regions and across borders, with potential long-lasting consequences for labour markets and production capacity, as well as prices.’

Sterling weaker at $1.3287 and €1.1737. Oil price lower at $69.78. UK 10yr gilt yield up 2bps at 0.84%. world markets better in Europe yesterday but US down and Far East mixed. London set to open down around 65pts as at 7am.

RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB:

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