Langton Capital – 2023-02-10 – Pizza Day, ROO, Loungers, JDW, Leon, C Parcs, Saga, US Q4s & more:
Section TitlePizza Day, ROO, Loungers, JDW, Leon, C Parcs, Saga, US Q4s & more: A DAY IN THE LIFE: Half term next week and Langton is away. Thinking of border delays and the like, the song we used yesterday was Always Look on the Bright Side of Life by Monty Python. We’re back, all being well, for Monday 20 Feb. 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: Pizzas. Yesterday (9 February) was National Pizza Day. We’re sorry we didn’t do anything to mark it but CGA’s ‘Food Insights Report’ shows that ‘one in five (21%) consumers name pizza as one of their top three dishes when eating out in pubs and bars…’ • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Cost of living: Ofcom is reported to be investigating mobile phone and broadband operators who have raised prices for customers during existing contracts. It will publish a report later this year. Late night. The NTIA and Audience Strategies have produced a report on the impact of electronic music in the UK… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Valentine’s Day. It’s creeping up on us. HGEM has undertaken a consumer survey that ‘finds Valentine’s Day trade may be in trouble.’ It says ‘less than 1 in 5 customers (17%) are looking to celebrate Valentine’s Day by going out for a meal or drink…’ COMPANY NEWS: Deliveroo job cuts. Deliveroo is to cut some 350 jobs. CEO Will Shu points to the cost of living crisis and says that the company over-hired in the past. The cuts represent around 9pc of its workforce. Some 50 people may be rehomed internally. Most of the jobs lost will be in the UK… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Loungers’ first Brightside roadside unit is set to open today on the A38 in Kennford, south of Exeter. Pepsi yesterday reported Q4 numbers saying that revenues rose to $28bn against estimates of around $26.84bn. Average prices were up as much as 16% with volumes down 2%. The company says it will not raise prices further after multiple price hikes last year… Compass Group has reported the result of its AGM votes yesterday. All resolutions were passed though the vote against the remuneration report amounted to some 29.7% of those voting. Shake Shack is set to open a further unit in Camden, London. Coco di Mama is set to open its first site outside London this week in Reading. JD Wetherspoon has increased its prices across its food and drink offer by 7.5%, saying ‘We believe our prices are still very competitive in all the locations we trade, even after the increase…’ City AM reports that Fuller’s has filed a lawsuit against insurance giants Aviva and Liberty Mutual in a dispute over a “business interruption” claim. Public records show that the pub company filed the claim on 2 February 2023. Coffee#1 reports LfL sales up 17.7% for the four week period in December compared to 2019 levels. The business also served over 1 million customers during December and continued its expansion into the Midlands with openings in Leek and Macclesfield. The MCA reports that Leon will launch a value hot meal deal next week featuring a £3.99 rice pot and drink deal… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Megan’s expects to reach £26m of revenue for the year ended 23 March 2023, driven by ‘exceptionally strong’ trading. The Mediterranean-inspired, dog-friendly restaurant group is set to open six locations this year with site number 20 in Guildford opening in April. China’s Luckin Coffee opened 478 new stores in January 2023 to exceed 8,400 outlets… The Drinks Retailing Awards has granted an award to The Filling Station, a craft beer retail concept. HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL: The Times reports that ‘Center Parcs has scrapped plans to develop a sixth UK holiday village near Gatwick after completing an environmental survey of the 553-acre site…’ Saga plc reported today that it ‘notes recent media coverage about the potential sale of Acromas Insurance Company limited, the underwriter that is part of its wider Insurance business, and confirms that it is in exclusive discussions with Open Insurance Technologies Pty Ltd regarding a possible sale of this business…’ Disney. Activist investor Nelson Peltz said yesterday that he would no longer be seeking a board seat at Walt Disney Co. A spokesperson said ‘the proxy fight is over. This is a win for all shareholders.’ Hilton. Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc yesterday reported Q4 numbers saying that room growth in China was below expectations because of continued Covid restrictions, now lifted. It says demand in China could remain volatile… Demand for leisure travel remains strong. The ETC reports that 58% of people plan to travel at least twice, either domestically or internationally, in the coming months… Data from Cirium suggests that the number of flights from UK airports over February school half term is set to rise by 44% YoY, with a total of 15,455 flights scheduled to take off from UK airports, equating to more than 2.7 million seats…. Royal Caribbean Group’s president has warned that European consumers are feeling more “pinched” than those in North America due to the rise in energy prices. S&P has upgraded Royal Caribbean Group’s financial outlook from ‘negative’ to ‘stable’ due to encouraging booking figures. CEO Jason Liberty said ‘consumer spend is shifting towards experiences, with cruising remaining an attractive value proposition.’ OTHER LEISURE: MGM Resorts International has reported Q4 numbers saying in a call to investors that ‘these outstanding results are evidence of our focus on optimizing growth in our business and operations as well as our strategic vision of becoming the world’s premier gaming entertainment company…’ • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. Elsewhere, MGM seems to have ruled out a fresh bid for UK betting company Entain. It says that it has ‘moved on’. Merlin has teamed up with Ferrari to offer a ‘Build and Race’ game at Legoland Billund and Legoland Windsor. Netflix is introducing limits on password sharing in four more countries: Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain… Per Sky, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is exploring buying a minority stake of around 10% in Manchester United or another premier league club, with the emir of Qatar said to be a fan of United. Google’s market value had $120bn (8%) wiped off after it became apparent that its AI search assistant, Bard, gave an incorrect answer to a query in the tech giant’s own marketing material. FINANCE & MARKETS: The ONS has reported that the UK has thus far avoided a technical recession as GDP was flat in Q4. GDP did, however, fall by 0.5% in December. This follows the 0.3% contraction recorded in the third quarter of last year… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £345, multiple £595. Limited time offer: PayPal monthly £25 + VAT. Easy in, easy out. PM Rishi Sunak is to hold meetings today with business leaders to seek ideas on how to boost UK economic growth…. Bank of England chief economist Huw Pill has conceded that the Bank underestimated the impact of inflation. He told MPs that ‘I probably underestimated, at least to some extent, the complexity of global supply chains and thus the duration and intensity of the inflationary pressures that resulted from their disruption by 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. Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey continues to row back from his ‘transient’ comments and now tells MPs that the Bank’s forecasts for inflation to more than halve this year could be at risk from high wage demands… The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has suggested that house prices continued to fall across the UK in January. It shows a net balance of minus 47% of members seeing rises to falls. The UK has paid £2.3bn to the EU after losing a trade dispute. The amount includes £1bn in interest. Sterling up at $1.2096 and €1.1279. Oil lower at $84.24. UK 10yr gilt yield down 1bp at 3.30%. World markets mixed yesterday & London set to open down around 30pts as at 6.30am. It hit new all-time highs yesterday. 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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