Langton Capital – 2022-11-09 – JD Wetherspoon, Flutter, Gym Group, PPHE, spending, costs etc.:
JD Wetherspoon, Flutter, Gym Group, PPHE, spending, costs etc.:A DAY IN THE LIFE: I’m going to have to have a words with the apples that keep falling onto our flat roof. Because, these particular ones are cookers, massive almost football-sized apples that weigh a pound or two each. Ones that would have given Isaac Newton a headache to remember and they hit the roof at a fair old lick, after which they rattle and bang around the place before the squirrels, magpies, even pheasants and other assorted vermin set about them and make a further racket while they tear them up and scoff them. And, as the apples that they (and admittedly we) leave up there for a while start to ferment during warm spells, it’s not long before the menagerie of animals mentioned above are scurrying around and fighting like a bunch of drunken sailors which can be just a little off-putting when you’re in the middle of a no-smiles-allowed Zoom meeting or a call with the tax authorities. Furthermore, they drop 24/7. Which can be a little disconcerting if you’re halfway through a jump-scare film or are fast asleep in bed. Anyway, enough of that, 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 JD WETHERSPOON Q1 TRADING UPDATE: JD Wetherspoon has today updated on Q1 trading and our comments thereon are set out below: Headline numbers: JD Wetherspoon reports like for like sales in the period were 9.6% higher than the same period last year and 0.4% higher than the 14 weeks ending 3 November 2019. It says, however, that ‘costs, especially in respect of labour, food and repairs, were substantially higher.’ JDW says ‘trading has been broadly in line with expectations, although October has been a slightly slower month.’ The company reports the first 9wks of the above period were +1.5% vs 2019 but the last 5wks were minus 1.1%. Vs 2021, the above numbers were +10.1% and +8.9% Cashflow & debt: • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. PUBS & RESTAURANTS: Trade: The Insolvency Service reports that the number of restaurants and food outlets entering liquidation nationally increased 46% in the quarter to September 2022… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Prices: Lumina Intelligence data shows that same-line dish prices increased 7.3% YoY at chain restaurants in spring/summer 2022. • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Costs: The MA reports that the UK brewery sector is facing a ‘perfect storm’ of cost increases. Brewers and trade bodies have called for a VAT cut in order to help them deal with the ‘tsunami’ of costs. CAMRA says ‘not only are energy costs skyrocketing, but the cost of everyday products ranging from CO2 to cleaning supplies are also going through the roof, provided you can get a hold of them in the first place…’ • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Delivery: The Telegraph reports that shoppers face higher delivery costs this Christmas, with House of Fraser, John Lewis and Asos among the retailers to have raised delivery costs over the past year… COMPANY NEWS: Hostmore has announced it launched a major new marketing campaign for its Fridays brand, “Show your Stripes”. The Times reports that PizzaExpress has been told it cannot recoup lockdown losses of approximately £200m by claiming on its insurance policy, because it was not dealing with an emergency… Domino’s Pizza Enterprises is testing an automated pizza station at a store in Berlin, Germany, capable for assembling 100 pizzas in an hour… Starbucks has opened its 1,000th store in Shanghai, China. That is 1,000 stores in once city with Shanghai becoming the first city in the world to reach that milestone. The store, which also marks the 6,000th in China, comes as the brand works toward opening 9,000 stores in the country by 2025. DP Poland has announced that ‘regulatory due diligence has been carried out by the Company’s Nomad and the appointment of Edward Kacyrz as Chief Financial Officer will be effective as of 1 December 2022.’ Re roadside restaurants. Loungers chairman, Alex Reilley, has told the MCA that the group’s new roadside concept Brightside has great potential and will offer an experience worth stopping for. Reilley said ‘As you can appreciate, it’s quite a different kind of hospitality, certainly in terms of sites […] so we spent a lot of time doing as much research as we possibly could to really inform our decision’. HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL: Trade recovery. IATA data shows that global air traffic reached 74% of 2019 levels in September, as measured by revenue passenger kilometres, a 57% increase YoY… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Aviation analytics firm Cirium reports that transatlantic flights from the UK to the US have recovered to 92% of 2019 levels, with the number of flights to the US rising 79% in the last 12 months. British Airways remains the largest carrier on key North Atlantic routes, operating 35% of all flights, followed by Virgin Atlantic at 17%. The Tube strike planned for tomorrow is to go ahead after talks broke up without agreement. PPHE Hotel Group has announced that ‘the art’otel London Battersea Power Station, the Group’s first UK managed art’otel, will open its doors to guests on 12 December 2022, with the highly anticipated full launch in February 2023.’ CEO Boris Ivesha says ‘we are very pleased to confirm the official opening date of our first UK art’otel, in the highly anticipated new Battersea Power Station neighbourhood in London. Operating under a management agreement and utilising our best-in-class, scalable operating platform, the hotel will be a first-of-its-kind in many respects.’ THE UK GAMING INDUSTRY: The International Industry: Further comment on the industry. Here we look at the UK in an international setting. Whilst product can cross borders – and therefore the UK companies can punch above their weight in terms of product sales, the customer base in the UK remains tiny as a proportion of the global market as a whole: • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. OTHER LEISURE: Flutter has updated on trading, saying it ‘delivered a strong Q3 performance with pro forma growth of 11% in both revenue and average monthly players. Our US division is now our largest and generated $700m in revenue, up 82%. Good growth in our ‘consolidate and invest’ International markets and the acquisition of Sisal in August helped drive ex-US revenues.’ It says ‘as we look ahead our product and geographic diversification, as well as our recreational customer base, position us well for future growth.’ Gym Group has reported on trading. CEO Richard Darwin says ‘against an uncertain backdrop, we are pleased to see memberships continuing to build over the last four months demonstrating that people are prioritising their physical and mental health – and that gyms are an important part of the local community.’ Disney has reported calendar Q3 numbers saying that net income for the quarter rose to $1.5bn from $0.6bn in the same quarter a year ago. The group says that operating profits at Disney’s parks, experiences and products division more than doubled in the important summer quarter. Revenue rose from $5.5bn to $7.4bn… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. The European Commission is to investigate Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The Commission says ‘the proposed acquisition may reduce competition in the markets for the distribution of console and personal computers video games and for PC operating systems.’ Tesla boss Elon Musk has sold a further $4bn worth of shares in the company. FINANCE & MARKETS: The British Chambers of Commerce has commented on the World Trade Organisation’s World Trade Report 2022 released at COP27, saying that ‘the WTO’s call to action is clear – trade in environmental goods and services to mitigate climate change is good for jobs, productivity and investment… Bank of England economist Huw Pill has said that Bank will raise rates further. The next meeting of the MPC is on 15 December. Sterling up vs dollar at $1.1534 but down vs Euro at €1.1455. Oil lower at $95.18. UK 10yr gilt yield down 9bps at 3.55%. World markets better yesterday but Far East down in Wednesday trade and London set to open down around 22pts as at 6.30am. 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. 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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