YNGA, JET2, service sector, inflation, trading, Prezzo & other:

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

The English language is littered with redundant phrases.

And, as hypocrisy is well and lives in my house, I’ll put my hands up to save you the trouble of looking through our prior emails to find us using them as I’m sure we do but I mean phrases like ‘to be honest’ or ‘to be fair’, the redundancy of which should be self-evident if you just pose the question ‘was I ever meant to believe the opposite?’

They’re to give us time to think, I suppose.

Or maybe to fill dead air and it’s not just the English language because, when we lived in Switzerland, it was interesting to note that the only phrases I could ever say with utter confidence were ones like ‘si tu vois ce que je veux dire’ (if you see what I mean) or ‘vraiment, je pense que / je crois que’ (honestly, I think / believe) etc because they at least gave me a few moments to translate whatever I had to say into French.

Or a version of the language that got me through the days without too many disasters, at least.

Although I do remember boldly asking in a shop for decorations to stick on le lapin (rabbit) noel, when I meant le sapin (fir tree) noel, which got me some strange (another idiot Englishman) looks. On to the news.

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YOUNG & CO – Q1 TRADING UPDATE:

Young & Co has updated on Q1 trading and our comments thereon are set out below:

Trading. Chairman Stephen Goodyear says he is ‘pleased to report that we have had a good start to the current financial year. In the first thirteen weeks of 2023, revenue was up 8.3% in total and up 6.8% on a like-for-like basis against 2022.’ He says ‘the key driver behind our performance is continued investment in improving and growing our premium estate, which remains central to our strategy.’ Mr Goodyear says…

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PUBS & RESTAURANTS:

Service sector activity:

S&P yesterday released its PMI for the UK services sector in June saying that the outturn was bang in line with the flash figure at 53.7 (down from 55.2 in May)…

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Trading:

S4Labour has reported that pub & restaurant revenues rose by 7.8% in June, with the ‘increase led by London…’

Inflationary pressures:

The British Chambers of Commerce’s (BCC) economic survey of its members suggests that higher wages are the “biggest driver of price rises” for two-thirds of businesses, rather than input cost pressures…

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Consumers discretionary expenditure:

Regarding the consumer, homeowners are being warned that fixed-rate mortgage deals could rise to 7% this summer….

Water bills rising. Ofwat warns that water companies are likely to push for bill increases in 2025 to cover the cost of improving services….

Other news:

SIBA CEO Andy Slee has said the UK brewery sector has ‘reasons for optimism balanced by causes for concern’…

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Landlord attitudes. When you read headlines like this ‘Prezzo landlords swallow £32m loss’ in The Times then why, as a landlord, would you feel comfortable leasing your property out to a hospitality company:

COMPANY NEWS:

Prezzo has had its restructuring proposals approved by the High Court despite the objection of HMRC…

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PizzaExpress is launching its own delivery platform, called PizzaExpress Delivers, in partnership with Uber Eats….

Restaurant Online reports that D&D London has closed its Plateau restaurant in Canary Wharf…

Virgin Wines has announced that it has signed ‘a new strategic partnership with WH Smith Travel…’

Monster Beverage has agreed for a Monster subsidiary to acquire all of Bang Energy’s assets from Vital Pharmaceuticals (VPX Sports). VPX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Florida, US, in October 2022 to help the company recover from multiple lawsuits that had impacted its ‘short-term outlook’.

HOTELS & LEISURE TRAVEL:

Jet2 has reported full year numbers to end-March saying that it generated sales of £5.0bn (up 40% on FY20) and turned in a PBT ol £371m against £153.2m in FY20…

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Travelodge has opened its first hotel in Peckham, London, and says that it is currently looking for a further 127 hotel sites across London.

A study by the ETC has found that cost of living concerns have caused travel intent for trips by Europeans from June to November to fall by 4%….

Lastminute and its Swiss-registered holding company BravoNext have left Abta and joined rival bond provider the Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust. This means half of the top-10 Atol holders and half the top-20 now operate outside Abta.

Birmingham airport is facing strike action from around 100 security officers and terminal technicians, starting from 18 July. The strikes may lead to delays for carriers such as Tui Airways, EasyJet, Wizz Air, Ryanair, Lufthansa and Emirates, the Unite union claimed.

OTHER LEISURE:

Leicester City is reported set to face a fine of up to £880,000 for colluding to fix the price of replica football kits.

FINANCE & MARKETS:

The OECD claims that the UK is now the only country in the G7 group of rich nations still dealing with rising inflation….

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who favoured Brexit, has accused the Government of ‘driving business out of the UK’ as missed a chance to buy a Swiss-owned concrete additives business.

S&P yesterday released its composite PMI reading for the UK economy in June saying that it ‘posted 52.8 in June, to remain above the neutral 50.0 threshold for the fifth consecutive month….

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S&P released what were weak PMI numbers for the Eurozone yesterday. It said the Eurozone composite number was 49.9 (May 52.8)…

JP Morgan has warned that the Bank of England may have to push rates as high ast 7% as former rate-setters such as Sir Charlie Bean and Sushil Wadhwani line up to criticise the Bank’s actions under Andrew Bailey.

Sterling mixed at $1.2695 and€1.1711. Oil price higher at $76.39. UK 10yr gilt yield up 7bps at 4.49%. World markets lower yesterday & London set to open down around 39pts as at 6.30am.

RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB:

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