YNGA, Heavitree, PPHE, CINE, inflation, utility costs & other:

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

Thinking of the Bank of England and the way that government politicians have turned their guns on governor Andrew Bailey made me think yesterday about the phrase ‘scapegoat’.

It was originally, apparently, a goat upon which all the sins of Israel were magically vested before it was cast out into the wilderness, presumably to die a miserable death but likely in order to find a companion goat and make dozens of other, little, sin-laden goatlets.

Anyway, herewith a couple of tweets we put out:

• B of England’s Bailey in cross hairs. Checked synonyms for scape-goat & got fall guy, sacrificial lamb, whipping boy, dupe, chump, gull & patsy. Also stooge, sucker & boob. However, combine w knighthood & £200k pension & Bob’s your Uncle, job done. Except it isn’t really, is it?

• Making Andrew Bailey carry the can: good idea? Works for Tory Party, easy copy for Press & would suit his successor, whoever that is. Not so good for Mr Bailey, whoever appointed him, thought he was the best person for the job etc. and, ultimately, doesn’t solve anything.

Plan A, if you don’t want to be a scapegoat, is don’t get everything you do wrong.

Plan B is be careful what kind of fork-tongued snakes you work for.

Plan C is ignore Plans A & B and make sure that you’ve got a shiny gong and cushy pension waiting for you if you do leave the building for the last time with a boot-print on your back. Plan C is the more reliable. On to the news:

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PUBS & RESTAURANTS:

Inflation; more on scapegoats:

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt yesterday called in consumer watchdogs such as OFGEM, OFWAT and OFCOM along with the CMA and the FCA to find out what is going on, check watch, with inflation.

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Inflation & the jobs market:

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, whose credibility is perhaps not what it once was as he has reportedly got many things wrong recently, has said that ‘the tight jobs market – with near-record low unemployment, more than a million jobs vacancies and wage growth of 7.2% – was the reason the UK inflation rate is higher than both the US and Eurozone’ and not Brexit, per Sky News…..

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Utility costs:

UKH is calling for ‘measures that enable businesses to exit energy contracts fixed at the peak of the energy crisis.’ it says ‘as the cost of doing business continues to increase, hospitality businesses will have no choice but to feed these increases through to the consumer. This, unfortunately, drives inflation….’

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Other news:

Lynx Purchasing MD Rachel Dobson claims ‘there are some very difficult choices for operators ahead’, saying that  in the current market, trying to compete with the cheapest place town for eating out was ‘a race to the bottom’….

COMPANY NEWS:

Young & Co.’s Brewery reports that Steve Goodyear is to stand down as non-executive chairman and will be succeeded by Steve Cooke following the company’s AGM in July 2024….

Heavitree Brewery yesterday reported H1 numbers saying that revenue in the half-year to 30 April was £3.326m, marginally up on the £3.290m recorded in the same period last year…

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Pan-Asian restaurant and bar SEBU has applied for a licence which would see it take over the 12th floor of the K2 Tower in Hull city centre.

BrewDog director James Watt has told Bloomberg that the company is considering New York or London for an IPO….

HOTELS & LEISURE TRAVEL:

PPHE Hotel Group has updated on trading for its Q2, the period to 30 June 2023, saying that ‘the strong trading conditions and forward booking momentum announced in the Q1 trading update, published on 27 April 2023, have been maintained through Q2 and into Q3 across all main market segments of leisure, corporate travel and meetings and events….’

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TravelSupermarket reports that all-inclusive package holidays have jumped in price for Mediterranean destinations. Travel Weekly says ‘the average price of a week with full food and board in Majorca in Spain is up 21%. Prices for Tenerife have risen more than 22%.’

Unite reports that it has negotiated a 17% pay deal for 2,000 workers at Manchester Airport…

The Advantage Travel Partnership’s latest Global Business Travel Review shows that domestic business travel has almost recovered to pre-pandemic levels…..

OTHER LEISURE:

E-Bike co Volt Bikes has secured ‘significant’ funding from HSBC UK…

Cineworld has confirmed its plan of reorganisation. It says ‘among other things, the Plan involves the release of approximately $4.53 billion of the Group’s funded indebtedness, the execution of a fully backstopped rights offering to raise gross proceeds of $800 million and the provision of $1.46 billion in new debt financing….’

Majestic Bingo has given notice of its intention to appoint administrators…

FINANCE & MARKETS:

CBI’s Growth Indicator reports that activity stabilised across the private sector, after falling for ten consecutive rolling quarters (+0% from -10% in May). Services grew +4% (-8% in May), with contractions in manufacturing -6% and distribution -7% slowing.

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MPC member Swati Dhingra has criticised the Bank saying ‘a lot of the pain and the criticism, and the inaccuracy of monetary policy, could have been avoided had we had better data and statistics and analytical toolkits to be able to do some of these types of analysis better…’

Sterling weaker at $1.2622 and €1.159. Oil higher at $73.74. UK 10yr gilt yield down 5bps at 4.33%. World markets broadly better yesterday. London set to open down around 4pts as at 6.30am.

RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB:

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