Langton Capital – 2023-05-04 – Confidence, trading, inflation, DOM, AB InBev, SSP Luckin & other:
Confidence, trading, inflation, DOM, AB InBev, SSP Luckin & other:A DAY IN THE LIFE: Is it just me or are some of the younger kids’ TV programmes out there somewhat spooky? Or even downright disturbing but then, from the Teletubbies and the Night Garden right back to the Clangers and some of that other weird stuff that was around in the 70s and 80s, there’s been something of precedent set when it comes to freaking out kids in the name of entertainment. We could go on but we’re a bit pushed for time again today so let’s move 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 are £395 for one subscription, £695 for multiple, £995 for very large subscribers, all plus VAT. Or sign up for easy in, easy out monthly option per subscriber HERE https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=87YUG2Z5W7PSN PUBS & RESTAURANTS: Optimism: Barclays quarterly SME Barometer reports that 58% of small business leaders are expecting revenues to increase this quarter when compared to the first three months of 2023, with an average revenue increase of 10% YoY driven by the King’s Coronation weekend…. • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out. Footfall: The Evening Standard reports that footfall on London’s Oxford Street is slowly climbing back to pre-pandemic levels as the Elizabeth Line brings more tourists and workers back to central London. Retailers have been announcing new flagship stores on the street, with HMV, Footasylum and Ikea all set to open sites there… Trading volumes: S4Labour has reported that hospitality sales grew in April ‘with a strong May on the cards.’ It says hospitality like-for-like sales in April were up 3.3% against last year’s levels. This is clearly a) positive in that it is above zero but b) it is well below inflation – and markedly below the type of inflation being faced by hospitality companies… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out. Inflation: Data produced by the ONS has suggested that the price of British staple fish & chips has risen by 19% over the last year. A meal will cost around £9 on average, up from £7.56 a year ago… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out. The RAC says that diesel drivers are being “ripped-off” at the pumps. It’s Fuel Watch analysis has diesel 6p a litre cheaper than petrol on the wholesale market and yet the price on the forecourt is around 159.43p with petrol at 146.5p. The RAC says diesel vehicle drivers should be paying around 143p “at the very most” per litre. Demographics: Zoopla says that couples wanting to buy a two-bedroomed home in London will need a joint salary of £97k.. The figure was £91k in 2020. Couples will need to earn £115k to buy a three-bedroomed house. They will also need to save for a deposit. This will suck income out of the pockets of predominantly younger consumers and hand it to older consumers. Other news: The Licensed Trade Charity (LTC) is recruiting for a new CEO after current CEO, Jim Brewster, has announced that he will retire in October. The charity aims to grow greater awareness amongst the trade and encourage even more industry professionals to access support when in need. COMPANY NEWS: Domino’s Pizza Group PLC has updated on Q1 trading saying that ‘record Q1 orders and app customers’ are ‘driving growth in sales and continued market share gains.’ The company says that it has seen system sales growth, excluding the change in the VAT rate, up by 10.7%. The order count is up by 2.8%, collection orders are up 23.0% and the company is seeing ‘delivery orders continuing to improve on the previous three quarters, down 4.9%…’ • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out. SSP Group has announced that it is to buy Midfield Concession Enterprise Inc in the US for an undisclosed sum. It says ‘the acquisition is an important step in SSP’s strategy to accelerate its growth in North America and will give SSP a presence in over 30 of the 80 largest airports in the USA…’ • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out. AB InBev has reported Q1 numbers saying that revenue rose by 13.2%. The company says that a ‘consistent execution of our strategy’ has driven ‘double-digit top and bottom-line growth…’ • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out. British sausage Heck is reported to have stopped producing most of its vegan products after saying that there was insufficient demand… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out. Wingstop in the US has reported Q1 numbers saying that it saw a 20.1% increase in same-store sales for the three month period. Yum! Brands reports Q1 system sales +13% YoY excluding Russia impact, with same store sales growing by 8% and operating profit by 3%. David Gibbs, CEO, said ‘We’re seeing broad-based accelerating digital sales growth leading to a record quarter for both digital system sales of nearly $7 billion and digital sales mix that exceeded 45%…’ • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out. Per MCA, Greene King CEO Nick Mackenzie claims the company has delivered a ‘solid financial performance’ with group revenue up 62.2% YoY to £2.17bn, and an adjusted operating profit of £192.6m… The MCA reports that Black Sheep Coffee aims to open 70 new sites over the next year with the company stating that it was doubling down on growth during these turbulent times. Black Sheep increased its quarterly system sales by 89.7% YoY to £8.27m in Q1, delivering a positive adjusted-EBITDA. Mamma Dough has been acquired out of administration by the newly incorporated London Dough Co, with five of the South London pizza chain’s seven sites set to continue trading. The new venture is led by Emma Willis and Lisa Loebenberg, who also run The Exhibit bar, a restaurant and event venue in Balham. Darden Restaurants in the US (Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse) is to buy Ruth’s Hospitality Group for $715 million. Ruth’s Hospitality owns the 154-unit Ruth’s Chris Steak House brand. China-based coffee shop operator Luckin Coffee has reported stronger Q1 revenues showing sales up 84.5% year on year to hit RMB 4.4bn (around $646m). The company opened 1,137 stores during the period, including its first two outside China, in Singapore. The company now operates 9,351 locations, made up as to 6,310 company-owned and 3,041 partnership stores… • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out. Having sold his majority stake in Patron Spirits International to Bacardi Limited in 2018 in a $5 Billion deal, John Paul DeJoria is reported to be back in the tequila business as he is joining ROKiT Drinks’ Bandero Tequila. HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL: Heathrow has said it will continue operations “as normal” despite the strike by security staff which started today. Barbara Kolosinska, managing director of C&M Travel Recruitment, has questioned whether the move to hybrid and homeworking will continue despite the pressures on recruitment, saying ‘We notice some candidates wanting more office work. Full-time office work could return for some, especially when businesses want to train people.’ OTHER LEISURE: Conservative MP Philip Davies is reported to have lobbied the government on behalf of a casino to introduce a measure that was then included in last week’s gambling white paper, reports The Guardian. FINANCE & MARKETS: S&P on Tuesday released its PMI reading for manufacturing in the UK saying this had slipped slightly from 47.9 in March to 47.8 in April. Any reading below 50.0 implies contraction. The much larger services PMI comes out later this morning… The US Federal Reserve yesterday raised interest rates by another 0.25% to the highest level in 16 years. The Fed signalled that this rise may be its last one for some time. Fed chair Jerome Powell says we’re no longer saying that we anticipate further rises. He says this is ‘significant change’. Sterling up at $1.2584 and €1.1351. Oil down at $72.95. UK 10yr gilt yield up 3bps at 3.69%. World markets mixed yesterday. London set to open down around 18pts as at 6.30am. RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB: • See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out. |
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