DGE, AG Barr, DOM, GRG, Heineken, Liberation, food costs, delivery etc.:

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

I did Langton’s VAT return yesterday with a few hours to spare before the Q2 deadline and, to add serious insult to injury, I had to remit a payment – but did I get a note of thanks from Mr Sunak et al?

Well, no, I didn’t.

But the whole process did set me back a few hours and keep me into the office until late so maybe I’m due a knighthood or a peerage further down the line, seems like everybody’s getting them.

Anyway, I signed up for Press Releases on a particular company’s website yesterday and, as I was typing in my email address, it reminded me just how irritating it is to be told this is ‘an invalid email address’ after you’ve only typed in the first letter.

Well, yes, it is.

Even Elon Musk hasn’t managed to shorten his email address to M. Presumably at the very least it’s M@Universe and, as I added an ‘a’ to the lonely-looking M, the website told me that Ma was little nearer a legit email address than was M alone.

At that point I scrolled down so I couldn’t see the reminders and filled in my address from memory so, as my touch-typing is pretty haphazard, the PR releases are as likely to go to Mr Musk as they are to me. On to the news:

LANGTON EMAIL:

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PUBS & RESTAURANTS:

Delivery:

CGA by NIQ’s latest Hospitality at Home Tracker shows that delivery and takeaway sales at leading UK managed restaurant groups were up 4% YoY in June, marking the first YoY growth since late 2021….

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The consumer:

Bank of England borrowing stats show that rising interest rates have yet to fully feed through the UK economy, with credit card spending up £1.7bn in June, above the £1.1bn increase in May….

Food costs:

The British Retail Consortium has said that, whilst food prices continue to rise, the rate of their inflation has begun to fall. However, it suggests that British families will face higher food prices for longer than was previously expected…

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Business confidence:

The Lloyds Bank Business Barometer fell by 6 points to 31% in July, The Times reports that it ‘fell last month amid growing concern over the impact of rising interest rates on the outlook for Britain’s economy….’

Alcohol taxes:

What PM Rishi Sunak called ‘the most radical simplification of alcohol duties for over 140 years’ is to kick in today and the likelihood is that drink will rise in price. Tax will be levied according to the strength of drinks in a move to introduce what the Treasury says are new “common-sense” principles…

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Working from home:

The Telegraph reports that demand for office space in London has slumped as employees wish to continue working from home. Rightmove and property data provider EG figures show the number of enquiries for new working space dropped by 11% YoY in 2023….

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Footfall:

Springboard reports that footfall at shopping centres was up 3.9% YoY for the week ending 30 July, driven by increased activity in the first week of the school summer break.

Other news:

In the US, Alignable figures show that 36% of independent restaurant operators couldn’t pay their rent in July, an improvement from 45% in June. The data shows that 55% of SMB owners are facing rent increases with the outlook for small businesses remaining mixed. NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg said ‘Owners are still raising selling prices at an inflationary level to try to pass on higher inventory, labour, and energy costs.’

COMPANY NEWS:

Diageo has this morning reported full year numbers to end-June saying it has delivered ‘a strong performance while investing in sustainable long-term growth.’ The company reports ‘strong net sales and operating profit growth within medium-term guidance’ with sales of £17.1 billion, up 10.7%, ‘primarily reflecting strong organic net sales growth, and favourable impacts from foreign exchange….’

Diageo reports that ‘organic net sales grew 6.5%.’ It says ‘reported volume declined by 7.4%, and organic volume declined by 0.8%.’ the company adds that it has generated a ‘resilient operating margin despite increased cost inflation.’ Reported operating profit ‘grew 5.1% to £4.6 billion. Reported operating margin declined by 147bps, with organic margin expansion more than offset by exceptional operating items and foreign exchange….’

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Domino’s Pizza Group has reported H1 numbers saying that system sales rose by 7.0% to £766.4m with revenue up by 19.6% to £332.9m. Underlying PBT is £50.9m, in line with last year and underlying EPS is 9.5p, again in line with last year. The H1 dividend is 3.3p, against 3.2p in 2022…

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AG Barr has updated on trading for the half-year to 30 July saying that ‘revenue for the first half of the financial year is expected to be c.£210m (2022/3 : £157.9m).’ This is up around 33% with 10% LfL growth. The company says it ‘delivered revenue and volume growth, reflecting underlying brand momentum, the benefit of higher pricing from early in the year and particularly good weather in June….’

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Gregg’s has reported H1 numbers to 1 July saying that total sales rose to £844.0m from £694.5m in the prior year. PBT was £80.0m against £55.8m and EPS was 46.8p at the underlying level, up from 44.9p in 2022. The company is reporting a dividend of 16.0p for the year against 25.0p last year…

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Heineken shares fell by c8% yesterday as the world’s second-largest brewer cut its 2023 profit growth forecast due to an economic slowdown in Vietnam and price hikes squeezing sales volumes. The company said it expected operating profit growth before one-offs this year to be between zero and a mid-single-digit percentage, compared to previous expectations of a mid- to high- single-digit percentage….

Adnams plc has announced that Dr. Andy Wood OBE DL intends to retire as CEO at the end of 2024 and that a succession process, led by Steven Sharp, Senior Non-Executive Director, will consider both internal and external candidates to replace him.

Popeyes is to open its 32nd site. Located in Manchester, the unit will open in the city’s Piccadilly Gardens.

Liberation Group has reported that it made a solid start to trading in Q1 this year and says that business accelerated in Q2. The company reports that, in Q1, overall LfL sales in the UK were up 4.6% with this rate of growth picking up to 10.8% in Q2. For H1 as a whole, LfL sales were up by 8.1% with drink up 9.0%, food up 5.2% and accommodation sales up 14.7% on a LfL basis compared wit the prior year. Brewery own brand volumes were up 6%….

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City AM reports that Tortilla is ‘quietly confident’ about its European expansion plans, targeting France, Germany, and Spain in particular….

Restaurant Magazine reports that I am Döner will open its fifth site, located in Windsor at the Datchet Green filling station. The Think Hospitality backed kebab brand’s other four sites are located in Headingley, Harrogate, Bootle and Leeds.

HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL:

Center Parcs has announced it is continuing to search for a suitable site for a holiday village in the south-east of England despite dropping a bid to build a 900-lodge site near Crawley in West Sussex in February. The plans were abandoned after environmental surveys found it was ‘not a suitable location’ for a resort.

Landal GreenParks UK has announced  that summer bookings are up by 20% on last year. The company puts its growth partly down to airport strikes, European heatwaves and the cost-of-living crisis keeping holidaymakers in the UK…

FINANCE & MARKETS:

Official data released for the European economy suggests that the likelihood of a recession is diminishing and inflation is falling. Growth across the Eurozone came in at 0.3 per cent in the three months to June, per Eurostat. Inflation is down to 5.3 per cent.

Sterling up at $1.2831 and €1.1673. Oil higher at $85.13. UK 10yr gilt yield down 2bps at 4.30%. world markets mixed yesterday & London set to open around 2pts lower as at 6.30am.

RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB:

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