Fuller’s, asset prices, cost of living, Center Parcs, Entain & other:

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

Comment from a well-travelled younger generation Brumby when driving from Anzio to Rome recently: “Do you know, these roads are worse than those in Montenegro. Much worse. And they’re worse than Albania….”

Anyway, that holiday is very much in the rear-view mirror and, strapped as we are for time, let’s move on to the news:

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FULLER’S FULL YEAR NUMBERS:

Fuller’s has this morning reported its full year results and our comments thereon are set out below:

Headline numbers: Comps are for a 52 week period. Fuller’s reports revenue up to £336.6m from £253.6m last year. It reports EBITDA of £51.8m (vs £44.3m) and says that adjusted PBT came in at £12.7m vs £7.2m last year. Fuller’s announces adjusted EPS of 16.1p (2022: 9.79p) and is to pay a full year dividend of 14.68p (2022: 11.31p). The company reports that ‘like for like sales in the year grew by 17.5% compared to prior year, with Central London growing by 40.1%.’

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PUBS & RESTAURANTS:

Asset values & the potential for bid action:

Bids and profit warnings are two of the occasions when share prices are likely to move sharply. In the case of the former, they are often driven when one person or player’s opinion as to value differs from that of the market…

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Cost of living:

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt has said the UK has “no alternative” but to hike interest rates in a bid to tackle rising prices. Another rise is likely next week…

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Mortgage costs:

Downing Street is reported to have ordered banks to protect struggling homeowners from higher mortgage costs….

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Mortgage rates are now at their highest rates since 2008 at around 5.54% for a 5 year fix, says Moneyfacts. As house prices are higher than they were in 2008, even when adjusted for inflation, the burden on homeowners is the highest since 1991.

Business confidence:

The Morning Advertiser reports that 75% of business leaders said they were not confident about the future of their business, with 25% saying they were confident….

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Trading:

Landlord Shaftesbury Capital reports its retail, hospitality, and leisure customers have seen aggregate sales up 13% vs 2019 on a LfL basis in the 5 months to May 2023….

Other news:

Wales is set to go ahead with its plans for a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) which includes glass…

The Labour Party has committed itself to revitalising Britain’s high streets as it says some 6,000 pubs have shut since the Tories took power. Labour’s Jonathan Reynolds says high streets have been “battered” by a “perfect storm” of rising costs and outdated business rates….

COMPANY NEWS:

Per MCA, Pizza Hut UK & Europe reports growing delivery sales, with third-party delivery apps a strong driver for growth….

LOAH, the alcohol-free beer brand, is opening London’s first completely non-alcoholic taproom, located in an archway spot in Hackney Downs Studios.

Corby Spirit and Wine has acquired 90% of Ace Beverage Group for CAD$148.5m. Corby is Canada’s second-largest marketer and distributor of spirits and wines and is majority owned by Pernod Ricard. Ace’s portfolio’s flagship brand is Cottage Springs and also features Ace Hill, Cabana Coast and Liberty Village.

Adnams has reported that 12 of its draymen ‘gave up their Saturday to learn about cellar management and take the Bii qualification so they can advise their customers with confidence about how to store, handle and dispense cask ales.’

HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL:

C&M Travel Recruitment reports that the number of new travel job vacancies rose by 131% last month, compared to April, 2% ahead of the pre-pandemic month of May 2019. The number of new candidates searching for new travel jobs jumped by 24% MoM.

The Government Investment Corporation, the wealth management arm of the Singaporean government, is reported to be interested in buying the UK’s Center Parcs, reports Sky News.

Manchester Airports Group has announced that Ken O’Toole is to take over from Charlie Cornish who has been CEO for over a decade.

Travel Weekly reports that senior travel industry leaders are concerned at the government’s lack of focus on key travel and business issues…

Security, terminal operations, search areas and passenger processing staff at Edinburgh airport have called off a potential summer strike after accepting a new pay deal….

Britannia Hotels reports sales up 300% YoY to £118m for the year ended 31 March 2022, generating PBT of £33.4m (2021: £9.5m)….

OTHER LEISURE:

Entain shares finished the day yesterday down almost 9% at £12.06 after…

Some 17 music publishers in the US are reported to be suing Twitter, which they say has been enabling copyright violations involving nearly 1,700 songs….

The Premier League is reported to have revenues around double that of the next largest league in Europe, La Liga in Spain….

Frontier Development’s shares finished yesterday down around 8.5% at 533p.

A study by the Reuters Institute has found that 44% of 18-24-year-olds use TikTok, up from 40% last year. The study also found that 20% of this age group used TikTok as a news source, up from 15% last year….

FINANCE & MARKETS:

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, has said that the UK has no alternative but to put up interest rates if it is to control inflation…

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Commenting on yesterday’s GDP numbers, Ben Jones, Lead Economist, CBI Economics, said ‘the rebound in activity underlines the relative resilience of the UK economy in the face of significant headwinds over the past year….’

The US Fed took a break from raising interest rates yesterday, the first time it has done so in more than a year. It left its benchmark rate at 5%-5.25%…

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Sterling mostly higher at $1.264 and €1.1687. Oil down at $73.04. UK 10yr gilt yield down 6bps at 4.37%. World markets broadly higher yesterday but London set to open down around 22 pts as at 6.30am.

RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB:

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