Whitbread, Busaba Eathai, SSPG, May Tracker, London, timing & other:

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A DAY IN THE LIFE:

It’s occurred to me once or twice, particularly when reading a history book or historical novel, that the times and even the dates that we take for granted nowadays haven’t been as fixed over time as you might have thought.

For example, Roman months moved around.

The early republic had ten months. January and February were added later. February came after December and, around 465 BC, it was moved again so that January and then February came at the beginning of the year.

July and August, both named after Caesars who weren’t born until they were, well, born, came later still but early Roman ‘years’ had only 304 days.

This moved to 355 days later. But this still meant that June, for example, could be a spring, summer, autumn or winter month depending upon the year. So breaking the ice on the pond in June or sun-bathing in December would have been perfectly possible.

The year later moved to 365 days.

And the Romans did have leap years but our modern, Gregorian calendar, was only introduced in October 1562.

And, coming almost bang up to date, interesting to note that the August Bank Holiday used to be the first Monday of the month. It was then trialled for two years as the last Monday. Then it was announced per annum on an ad hoc basis, a nightmare for calendar makers, and then it settled on the last Monday only in 1971.

Useless but interesting info. On to the news:

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MAY HOSPITALITY TRACKER:

After strong trading in the sunny weather in April, CGA reports that it was a ‘Grey May for hospitality groups’ sales’. It says this came after a ‘weak Bank Holidays and cost hikes.’ It says the UK’s leading managed hospitality groups saw sales slip by 1.0% year-on-year in May compared with the same month a year ago. Adjusting for inflation of around 3.4% means that the numbers were materially worse in real terms….

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PUBS & RESTAURANTS:

London trading:

CGA’s data above suggests that London is currently underperforming. Hence, it’s perhaps timely that London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s office has announced a number of ‘new Summer Streets al fresco dining hotspots to boost [the] capital’s hospitality industry this summer.’ The mayor’s office writes that ‘Brixton, Leyton, Shoreditch and the West End are the first beneficiaries of the Mayor’s Summer Streets Fund and will introduce al fresco dining and later opening hours this summer thanks to funding from the Mayor…’

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Trading:

The Oxford Partnership’s latest Market Watch Snapshot reveals that a mix change within sales of draught beer is seeing Premium and World Lagers growing more rapidly than other categories. The data shows that Premium Lager volumes rose by +7.3% over the last 12 weeks, with World Lager up by +10.3%. In contrast, Core Lager and World 4% Lager experienced declines of minus 5.2% and minus 1.6% respectively….

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Menu development:

Lumina Intelligence’s latest Menu Tracker suggests that pubs are cutting the size of their menus in order to simplify service and cut costs.

Refer to Timing is Everything

Further to our comments regarding the above earlier this month, it is interesting to note that the alternative dairy brand Mighty Drinks has fallen into administration. The company blames rising costs and lower consumer confidence….

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Other news:

Coffee prices continue to fall on global commodity markets with the price now at five month lows of 334.95c per pound for the ICE Coffee C Futures contract….

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COMPANY NEWS:

Busaba Eathai, which should have lodged accounts for the year to September 2024 should have been lodged with Companies’ House by last week, has filed a notice of its intention to appoint an administrator. The application was made on Friday 13 June…

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St Austell Brewery has reported revenues up to £231m with EBITDA up 8.7% to £22.4m . The company says it is ‘pleased to report that despite the sustained challenges in the sector, the company has once again achieved record turnover, and importantly, has also converted this performance into increased EBITDA.’

SSP Group has secured a 14-year contract to run a number of both new and refreshed F&B concepts at Leeds-Bradford Airport…

Ole & Steen has reported sales up 5% for the year to end-December 2024 with EBITDA up 25% to £4.8m….

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Jane Holbrook is to step down as chair of Cote Brasserie.

WHITBREAD Q1 TRADING UPDATE:

Whitbread has this morning updated on trading in a statement to be read to its AGM and our comments thereon are set out below.

Headline numbers: Whitbread updates on the 13 weeks to 29 May saying that accommodation sales are down 2% in total the UK and up 15% in Germany. The group total LFL is 0%. The company adds that F&B revenue is down 16% in the UK (where some offers are being wound down) and up 22% in Germany. The group total is down 14%. Group total sales are down 5% in the UK and up 16% in Germany to give a group revenue down by 4% in the year to date. 

In LFL terms, accommodation is down 3% in the UK and up 13% in Germany. The group LFL is down 2%. LFL F&B sales are down 2% (reflecting the wind-down mentioned above) in the UK and up 19% in Germany with the group at minus 1%. Total LFL sales are down by 3% in the UK (down double that in real terms after inflation) and up 13% in Germany. Group LFL sales are down 1%.

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HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL:

The Global Business Travel Association has said that price “remains king” when it comes to travel professionals booking business travel.

Hyatt Hotels Corp has completed its $2.6 billion acquisition of Playa Hotels & Resorts, an all-inclusive resort operator in a number of Caribbean and Latin American markets.

OTHER LEISURE:

The Guardian reports that ‘up to seven out of 10 streams of artificial intelligence-generated music on the Deezer platform are fraudulent, according to the French streaming platform.’

Proof if it were needed that there are more lucrative industries out there as OpenAI boss Sam Altman accuses Meta of attempting to poach his company’s staff with signing bonuses of up to $100m.

FINANCE & MARKETS:

The US Federal Reserve yesterday left rates unchanged in the US in a range of 4.25-4.5%. it cut its forecasts for economic growth and raised its inflation outlook….

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Eurostat yesterday reported that Eurozone inflation fell to 1.9% in May from 2.2% in April. It is now below the ECB’s target rate of 2%. Inflation across the EU as a whole fell to 2.2% in May, down from 2.4% in April.

The ONS has reported that UK house prices fell in by 2.7% month on month in April. Prices are up by 3.5% in the year to that date.

Sterling mixed at $1.3406 and €1.1699. Oil up further at $76.62. UK 10 year gilt yield down 4 basis points at 4.50%. World markets mixed yesterday & London set to open up around 2 points as at 6.30am.

RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB:

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