Langton Capital – 2023-02-06 – Services, demand, labour, trains, Budget, DGE, Playtech & more:
Services, demand, labour, trains, Budget, DGE, Playtech & more:A DAY IN THE LIFE: Langton spent a chunk of the weekend, well, a few minutes here and there, trying to find a certain green comet in the night sky and, though we didn’t succeed, we found out that a) the sky is a very big place, b) clouds seem to be a fact of life and c) everything moves around all over the place and it’s all very, very complicated. Of course we could have downloaded a smartphone app to tell us exactly where the thing was but, on the ‘how hard can it be?’ principle, we went straight out with our binoculars and, after twenty minutes in the gathering frost, we were none the wiser and decided it was wiser to take a quick look at the YouTube livestream instead. Anyway, at least The Mighty Hull City managed to trounce Cardiff 1-0 at the weekend and in doing so rocketed into the top half of the division. And, though it would be wise of us perhaps to stop the season now if given the chance, we can’t help those ‘playoffs this year & Europe the year after next’ dreams from creeping in at the edges. Still, there’s a week to go before Half Term so, without further ado, let’s get on to the news: LANGTON EMAIL: The Free Email is now written in short form. Extended versions of many stories (after the ellipses) 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 PUBS & RESTAURANTS: Service sector output: S&P Markit reported January PMI numbers for the UK Service Sector and a total Composite number for the economy as a whole on Friday. The Services number came in at 48.7 in January, down from 49.9 in December but up on the Flash number for the month of 48.0. It comments on inflation, prices and labour issues… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Demand: CGA reports that ‘consumers remain eager and confident to eat and drink out when given reason to, despite mounting pressure on their spending.’ It says its ‘Christmas Report reveals that 76% of consumers went out over the festive period—18 percentage points more than in 2022, when fears about the Omicron variant of COVID-19 kept some people at home…’ • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Access to labour: The Bank of England has warned that Britain’s workforce will be permanently smaller after the pandemic… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Separately, UKH and the British Retail Consortium have demanded that the government fix “the broken Apprenticeship Levy system” which they say is currently a “£3.5 billion mistake”… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Train strikes: Aslef’s second 24-hour strike on Friday left passengers facing travel disruption with only skeleton services on Greater Anglia, LNER and GWR… Pre-Budget lobbying: Industry trade bodies, Hospitality Ulster, BBPA, UKHospitality and the BII, have jointly written to business secretary Grant Shapps, calling for further support for hospitality in the face of rising energy costs which are crippling their businesses. They says more closures imminent without further help on energy bills… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Meanwhile The Telegraph has commented on the number of insolvencies (see earlier emails) saying that ‘advisors report a worrying degree of “complacency” among bosses that means many more companies are poised to collapse as borrowing costs rise and the Chancellor tightens the purse strings…’ Deposit Return Scheme: The Society of Independent Brewers, the Scottish Wholesale Association, the Wine and Spirits Association, the Scotch Whisky Association and Scotland Food & Drink have said that thousands of small producers do not have the resources to meet the current deadlines for the Deposit Return Scheme north of the border… Other news: In the US, CGA reports that California On Premise sales posted consecutive positive weeks +2% and +5%, respectively. Trends vs last year are driven by check value (+14%), with ticket count also up (+6%). Also in the US, official data suggests that leisure & hospitality added 26,000 jobs in December after having added 59,400 in November and 36,000 in October. The sector is now back up to around 97% of the employment levels seen pre-Covid. The Evening Standard quotes Savills as ranking London the third most attractive city globally for leisure and dining businesses. It says firms are keen to operate in the city despite challenging market conditions. COMPANY NEWS: Diageo has announced that it has, ‘launched a partial tender offer to increase its aggregate equity stake in East African Breweries PLC from its current 50.03% to a maximum of 65%. DGE says ‘the tender offer period will run from 6 February 2023 to 17 March 2023.’ MA reports that Black Sheep Brewery is set to raise the price of its cask, keg and packaged products by 19.5% at the end of this month… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Fullers has partnered with Green Goblet to roll out reusable plastic cups across its Managed Pubs and Hotels estate. The cups will be used in Fuller’s pubs during events and will be in place in time for the Six Nations. The new brasserie style York Minster Refectory is set to open in early spring in the Grade 2 listed former York Minster school. Punch Taverns has reopened The Railway Tavern, Mill Hill, after a £260k investment, with Management Partners Celia Sesma and Daniel Martin operating the unit. HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL: UK Inbound has added its voice to those trade bodies asking for more help from government in the upcoming spring Budget. UK Inbound would like to see duty free shopping reinstated for overseas visitors alongside other support measures. OTHER LEISURE: Playtech has announced that, as part of ongoing discussions with Caliplay in relation to the parties’ strategic agreement, it ‘is seeking a declaration from the English Courts to obtain clarification on a point of disagreement between the parties…’ Samsung Mobile UK boss James Kitto has said he would not have given his daughter a smartphone before she was 11… FINANCE & MARKETS: S&P on Friday released its UK Composite PMI saying it came in at ‘48.5 in January, down from 49.0 in December, but up on the 47.8 Flash number released during the month… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Bank of England chief economist Huw Pill has cautioned that it is important the Bank does not raise borrowing costs too high… Ratings agency Fitch has flagged up the fact that ‘negative rating actions could increase over the next 12-18 months as the balance of [negative] Outlooks in our portfolio of EMEA Corporates rose at end-2022… Strong jobs growth in the US in January per the US Labor Department has fed into concerns that further interest rate rises may be needed… Liz Truss tells The Sunday Telegraph that the left wing establishment didn’t give her a chance to test her policies on real people. And the markets, surely? The FTSE 100 hit an all-time high on Friday. Markets weakening on Friday, however, and the FTSE 100 was due to open down some 26pts as at 6.30am. Sterling weaker at $1.2058 and €1.1171. Oil lower at $80.25. UK 10yr gilt yield up 7bps at 3.07%. RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB: • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. 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