Adnams, BOWL, Cook’s Coffee, Mission Mars, confidence & other:

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

The Eurofighter Typhoon flies over York a lot.

And I can confirm that both a) it can most certainly fly and b) it’s very, very noise and, as it uses the Minster what feels like most days as a point of reference in an otherwise flat landscape, it’s not going to change its habits any time soon.

Indeed you could set your watch by it.

That’s if you didn’t mind your watch being wrong because it comes over at pretty much any time of the day and plots what are presumably bombing runs above our house for twenty minutes of so.

Not that I’ve ever seen it, of course as it flies at up to 55,000 feet and shaking your fist at it won’t therefore do much good.

And the pilot will be ten miles to your south before you hear him coming from the north so he wouldn’t care anyway. On to the news:

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PUBS & RESTAURANTS:

Business confidence.

Business confidence matters because it critically impacts investment decisions. The latter impacts employment levels and employment impacts consumer spend. With that in mind, the CBI reports that confidence slipped in the last three months on the back of increased costs. It says ‘business confidence across the services sector deteriorated sharply again in the quarter to May’ and adds that ‘business volumes also fell again, across both business & professional services and consumer services.’

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Trading:

The MA gives a shout out to Clarkson’s Farm, the first half of which is now available on Amazon Prime. Last seen, to episode four, Mr Clarkson was in the process of buying what is to become, no spoilers here, The Farmer’s Dog. Early indications seem to confirm that Mr Clarkson will highlight the issues and headwinds currently being faced by the trade…

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Disposable income:

UK Finance reports that consumers lost an estimated £1.2bn to fraud in 2024, largely due to illegal purchases being made on behalf of credit card users. ‘Remote purchasing’ has been a feature of the (virtual) high street for some time and identity theft has grown alongside it…

Other news:

Financier Oak North updates on its views for the sector saying that continued hybrid working patterns and value for money will be key features of the market going forward…

COMPANY NEWS:

Adnams has reported results for the 12 months to end-December 2024 saying that that sales rose by 3% to £68.1m (2023 £66.3m), with ‘sales increases in most business channels’, the company reports that ‘Off-Trade ale volumes at minus 0.3% outperformed the market which declined by (6.2%) versus the prior year’, The company reports that operating losses were reduced to £1.2m (2023: £ 2.5m) as a result of improved trading performance and disposal of non-core assets. This led to a pre-tax loss of £2.8m (2023: £4.1m). The group reports that adjusted EBITDA was £1.2m (2023: £0.6m) and says that net bank debt was reduced to £15.3m (2023: £15.9m)….

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Cook’s Coffee has reported full year numbers to 31 March saying that total franchisee store sales in the UK & Ireland were up 33% at NZ$79.6m (FY24: NZ$58.2m). The company says ‘group revenue, which is highly correlated to store sales, [was] up 49% at NZ$7.0m (FY24: NZ$4.7m). This includes NZ$1.0m of sales through the Dairygold stores for the 3.5 months from mid-December 2024. Net Revenue excluding Dairygold store sales were NZ$6.0m which was 28% up on FY24….

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Missions Mars, which operates the Albert’s Schloss and Rudy’s Pizza Napoletana chains of outlets, has reported numbers to 29 September saying that revenue rose by 31% to £92.9m. Albert’s Schloss turned over £37.5m, up from £32.3m the prior year and Rudy’s revenue came in at £46.4m, up from £29.3m the prior year….

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Bleecker is to open a fifth burger restaurant having acquired the former Neat site on Old Compton Street in Soho.

Powder Monkey Group Limited has purchased Castle Eden Brewery Ltd for an undisclosed sum. The company says ‘Castle Eden Brewery was first established in County Durham in 1826 and has joined PMG after a series of owners after its near 200yr history….’

Cognac maker Rémy Cointreau has appointed Franck Marilly as its CEO. M Marilly will work alongside outgoing chief executive Eric Vallat for a period to ensure a smooth transition.

HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL:

Heathrow CEO Thomas Woldbye has said that he slept through two emergency notification calls and a number of other phone calls from Heathrow’s chief operating officer, Javier Echave, who was ringing to inform him that a fire at a nearby substation had cut power to the airport.

HOLLYWOOD BOWL – H1 NUMBERS:

Hollywood Bowl Group has reported H1 numbers saying that adjusted revenue rose by 8.4% to £129.2m with pre-IFRS16 EBITDA up by 0.5% at £38.8m and adjusted PBT down 9.4% at £28.0m. The numbers have been adversely affected by the timing of Easter, the impact of which should reverse in H2. The company reports adjusted EPS down 11.6% at 12.01p and the H1 dividend is to be raised by 3% to 4.10p. BOWL reports ‘Total Group LFL revenue growth of 2.1%, negatively impacted by 0.9% due to movement of Easter and 0.2% due to the additional leap year trading day in 2024.’

LFL sales wer up 1.3% in the UK with bowling centres LFL of 1.5%. Canada LFL total revenue rose by 13.6%, with bowling centres LFL of 3.7%, on a constant currency basis. The group reports that it has a ‘strong net cash position at 31 March 2025 of £22.7m.’ It adds that it has a new, undrawn £25m RCF signed with £5m accordion at an improved margin. The company has completed its £10m share buyback programme which is ‘equivalent to two years of special dividends based on historical payouts.’

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OTHER LEISURE:

Frontier Developments’ shares rose strongly yesterday on the back of the group’s trading update. They finished the trading day up some 9% or 20p on the positive trading comments.

FINANCE & MARKETS:

A US court has declared illegal President Donald Trump’s tariffs in what is seen as a major blow to the president’s key policies.

The SMMT has reported that the number of vehicles manufactured in the UK fell sharply in April as production was impacted by tariff worries. Some 59,203 vehicles were made last month, the lowest number for more than 70 years.

Sterling mixed at $1.3440 and €1.1953. Oil up at $65.80. UK 10 year gilt yield up 5 basis points at 4.72%. World markets lower yesterday but Far East reacting positively to the US tariff courtroom verdict and London set to open around 73 points better as at 6.30am.

RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB:

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