Langton Capital – 2022-11-02 – Staff, inflation, Molson, Frontier Developments, OTB, interest rates etc.:
Staff, inflation, Molson, Frontier Developments, OTB, interest rates etc.:A DAY IN THE LIFE: Is it nearly the weekend yet? Is it nearly the weekend yet? Yes, maybe we never grow up and, much as I may have irritated my parents on holiday trips by asking ‘are we nearly there yet’ and my kids certainly irritated me by asking the same, I feel compelled to ask again, is it nearly the weekend yet? Nothing more to say on that subject so let’s move on to the news: LANGTON EMAIL: The Free Email is now written in short form. Extended versions of many stories are in the Premium Email. Reply to this email if you would like to upgrade. Prices for the Premium at time of writing are £345 for one subscription, £595 for multiple, both plus VAT. Or sign up for easy in, easy out monthly option HERE https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=87YUG2Z5W7PSN THE AQUIS MARKET: Broker VSA Capital is hosting an Aquis Day on Tues 29 November at the Royal College of Surgeons (38-43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, WC1A 3PE). The event will feature around 20 companies, who will present to attendants and take part in a competition to win the ‘Britain’s Got Aquis’ title. Judges on the day will include Andy Brough (Schroders) and Judith Mackenzie of Downing LLP. Tickets and details are available HERE Attendance costs £20 – but Langton has a number of complimentary tickets and we’re open to suggestions as to who we should give them to…. Drop us a line. PUBS & RESTAURANTS: Staffing issues: Fourth has reported that ‘more staff are leaving jobs in hospitality now than at any time since the start of the pandemic.’ It says that ‘8.3% of the workforce left the sector between August and September. That’s the highest percentage of leavers since 15.6% of people left their roles in March 2020…’ Fourth says ‘the rate is being driven by employees leaving jobs in pubs (10.8%) and restaurants (9.8%), with quick serve restaurants (8.1%) and hotels (6.5%) seeing a slightly slower rate of departure.’ Nonetheless, more people are employed in the industry than was the case a year ago. Fourth says ‘the overall headcount across hospitality has grown 8.8% in the 12 months to September 2022. However, numbers fell by 2% between August and September…’ • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Business optimism: The CBI comments on business optimism (across the whole economy rather than the hospitality sector specifically) and says that ‘business confidence among the UK’s SME manufacturers has fallen sharply, as output and the volume of new orders declined in the three months to October 2022…’ • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Inflation: The British Retail Consortium has reported another sharp rise in food prices last month as they rose by 11.6% on the year to October, up from 10.6% in the year to September. The rise in costs is the fastest rate of growth the BRC has ever recorded. Prices rises in essentials, food, energy and mortgage costs, will reduce discretionary income levels and put downward pressure on spending in other areas of the economy… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Other news: The consumer. The wealth effect can work in reverse. See Finance & Markets below for comment on the Nationwide House Price Index. Inflation may blur the impact of the wealth effect as it might mean that headline ‘wealth’ is increasing whilst the real money value of what is most people’s main asset is falling. The consumer. The Nationwide, in commenting on the likely direction of house prices, spells out just how much energy prices for the consumer have risen, even after government help… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Foodprint has suggested that around 64% of UK consumers would like to make more sustainable choices when eating or drinking out. However, only 35% of consumers believe that they have the right information to make sustainable food choices. UK Hospitality has called on Liverpool City Council to abolish its late night levy… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Rents. Remit Consulting reports that an average of 83% of rents due from commercial property tenants were collected within seven days of the due date for Q4 (which was due to be paid in advance around 5wks ago). Remit says this compares to 76% for Q3 and 73% for Q4 last year. Royal Mail workers are to hold two 48-hour strikes around Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year. COMPANY NEWS: Molson Coors has reported Q3 numbers saying that it has turned in its 6th consecutive quarter of top-line growth on a constant currency basis. Profits were down… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Diageo yesterday announced that it is set to commence the fourth, and final, phase of its previously announced return of capital programme of up to £4.5 billion to shareholders to be completed during fiscal 2023. French bakery Paul is considering converting some of its traditional format sites to the Paul le Café format, reports MCA. Independent Leeds brewery North is to open its tenth venue later this year. The unit, in Manchester, is North’s first in the city. Made.com has is to go into administration as no new cash has been injected and a buyer has not been found. PricewaterhouseCoopers will handle the administration. Morrison’s is to close 132 of its loss-making McColl’s convenience stores with some 1,300 jobs at risk. HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL: On the Beach reports that Britons are cutting back on nights out, other non-essential items and Christmas in order to pay for their holidays… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Uber is reportedly set to pay the UK tax authorities some £615m to resolve a legal demand that the company should have charged VAT on fares. Uber has reported Q3 numbers and says passenger volumes are now higher than they were before the pandemic. Uber’s revenue was up by 72% in Q3 to $8.3bn, beating consensus estimates of $8.1bn. The company reports some 124m monthly active users, up 14% on last year. The group reports net losses down by a half from $2.4bn a year ago to $1.2bn. ACI Europe reports that European airline traffic has recovered to 88 per cent of its pre-Covid levels in Q3 this year. OTHER LEISURE: Games developer Frontier Developments plc has announced the acquisition of development studio Complex Games Inc for the equivalent of £8.3m with a further £3.3m potentially payable depending on performance. FDEV says ‘the Acquisition follows the successful collaboration between Complex and Frontier Foundry, Frontier’s games label for third-party publishing, on the development and publication of turn-based strategy game Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters, which released in May 2022 to a very positive reception and is Foundry’s most successful game to date… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. FINANCE & MARKETS: The US Fed will comment on (and raise) US interest rates later today. The Bank of England’s MPC meets tomorrow. The Nationwide has highlighted a ‘sharp slowdown in annual house price growth in October’ from 9.5% in September to 7.2% in October… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. S&P Markit has released its PMI for the UK’s manufacturing sector saying that the headline number dropped to 46.2 in October, down from 48.4 in September but above the earlier flash estimate of 45.8… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. The Bank of England yesterday sold £750m of its £838bn stockpile of gilts and bonds in its first move towards quantitative tightening (QT). QE has kept interest rates at historic lows. QT should see upward pressure exerted on interest rates. Sterling up at $1.1515 and €1.1641. Oil price up at $96.41. UK 10yr gilt yield down 8bps at 3.46%. World markets mixed yesterday with London set to open some 15pts higher as at 6.30am. RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB: • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. |
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