JDW conf. call, Five Guys, Chipotle, Hilton, Alphabet, jobs market & other:

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

Here’s a question for you, where do all the paperclips go, because I often can’t find one when I want one.

Despite the fact that I’ve bought them frequently, they don’t often wear out and, apart from the odd one that might be used to dig food from between your teeth, not mine, obviously, I’m far too hygienic, they don’t get bent straight; so where do they go?

Maybe they move around at night. There could be some dirty big magnet out there with billions of paperclips stuck to it, it might grow and grow until it becomes sentient and makes a bid for power.

It’ll be lumbering around London, squashing double-decker busses, Morris Minors, 1950s phone boxes and bobbies in helmets we haven’t seen in 50 years and there’s an episode of Dr Who that should be easy to sell to the States.

On to the news:

LANGTON EMAIL:

The Free Email is now written in short form. Extended versions of many stories (after the ellipses) are in the Premium Email. Reply to this email if you would like to upgrade.

Prices for the Premium are £395 for one subscription, £695 for multiple, £995 for very large subscribers, all plus VAT. Or sign up for easy in, easy out monthly option per subscriber HERE

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=87YUG2Z5W7PSN

PUBS & RESTAURANTS:

Consumer demand; job security.

Perfect market economists would have it that people are rational. Maybe you might want to stop reading there but, goes the argument, workers will spend less (or nothing) if they think their income is under threat. With that in mind, it’s worth considering AI and Sam Altman (ChatGPT)’s latest comments to the effect that entire job categories will disappear, the workers’ function displaced by AI….

• See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out.

Other news:

Football: Pubs in England and Wales will be allowed to sell alcohol until 1am in the early hours of Monday morning as the England women’s team has made it through to the final of the 2025 Euros.

Champagne. 2025 is being deemed an ‘easy’ vintage in sharp contrast to 2024, which was seen as one of the most difficult in living memory last year. Drinks Business quotes Louis Roederer’s chef de cave Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon as saying ‘we have difficult and easy vintages in Champagne, and this is an easy one…’

US spirits sales in Canada. Have fallen by around 66% reports DB. It says that ‘Canada’s response to US trade tariffs has led to a sharp decline in American spirits sales, with brands like Jack Daniel’s disappearing from store shelves.’

Property. Christie & Co’s property review suggests that ‘so far in 2025, we are seeing the pub market remain solid.’ It says ‘despite the widely reported economic headwinds and operational challenges, hospitality operators are tackling this uncertainty head on, and we are still seeing a demand for pub and restaurant sites across the UK….’

• See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out.

COMPANY NEWS:

Spirits and luxury goods giant LVMH will report numbers this evening after the Paris market has closed.

JDW’s shares reacted positively in a strong market to yesterday’s Q4 trading update. The shares finished the day up 2% at 795p.

Burger chain Five Guys has successfully refinanced its debt facility, securing £185m which will be used to support European expansion…

• See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out.

Chipotle in the US yesterday reported Q2 numbers down on the same quarter last year. The company reported that sales were down by 4% on Q2-2024, worse than the minus 2.9% reported at Q1. Footfall was also lower than expected at down 4.9%. This was also worse than the minus 2.3% seen in Q1 and worse than the 4.4% drop forecast on Wall Street. The shares fell as much as 9% in extended trading….

• See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out.

Distil has this morning reported that revenues in its Q1, the quarter to June, fell by ‘50% to £66.8k (April-June 2024 £134k)….’

Harvey’s Brewery is reported to have bought the trademarks and other intangible assets of south coast brewery Brighton Bier.

Purity Soft Drinks has reported full year numbers to 28 March 2925 to Companies’ House saying that revenue dipped by 9.6% to £27.0m. Gross margin fell materially from 42.3% to 38.2%. Below the gross line, admin costs rose by 3.1% to £5.4m and, though interest receipts rose on higher rates, PBT fell from £5.5m to £3.5m…

• See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out.

JD WETHERSPOON – Q4 UPDATE CONFERENCE CALL:

JDW reports on current trading saying that LFL ‘sales increased by 5.1% in the 12 weeks to 20 July 2025, compared to the same period last year.’ It says that year-to-date like-for-like sales also rose by 5.1%. JDW reports that in ‘the year-to-date, the company has opened three pubs and sold nine.’ The company now has 794 pubs.

Comments on Trading: How much did the weather help? Won’t split it out. The pace of growth has been maintained. This will be the exit pace of growth going into next year. Price vs volume?

• See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out.

HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL:

Hilton in the US has reported Q2 numbers saying that revenues rose to $3.14 billion from $2.95 billion in the same quarter of 2024. Net income rose to $442 million in 2025 from $422m in the same quarter last year…

Marriott International yesterday reported that it has ‘completed its acquisition of the innovative lifestyle brand citizenM.’ The current citizenM global portfolio includes 37 open hotels, comprising 8,789 rooms, across more than 20 cities in the U.S., Europe, and Asia Pacific.

Dalata: Pandox AB has announced that it yesterday ‘made an on-market purchase of 37,060,105 ordinary shares in Dalata, representing approximately 17.52 per cent. of the issued share capital of Dalata, at a price of €6.39 per share.’ Pandox reports that ‘following the purchase, Bidco’s total interest in Dalata, together with those shares held by Eiendomsspar and Pandox (and their controlled subsidiaries), amounts to 57,801,937, representing approximately 27.33 per cent. of the issued share capital of Dalata.’

Malmaison and Hotel du Vin: Sky News reports that Fortress Investment Group is ‘among the parties considering offers for Malmaison and Hotel du Vin, which sit under the same ownership structure….’

easyHotel Paddington has announce a £1m ‘low-carbon refurbishment.’ It says ‘the property has undergone a £1 million refurbishment, with 47 refreshed and enhanced rooms, a transformed reception area, and new low-carbon features throughout….’

Eurostar is to ramp up its direct services on the London-Amsterdam route to five times daily from December this year in response to high demand.

OTHER LEISURE:

Alphabet, which owns Google, YouTube, Fitbit and other online brands reported numbers for Q2 yesterday ahead of market estimates. The company reported that it generated total revenues of $96.4 billion, up 14 per cent year-on-year. Net income was up 19 per cent from $23.6 billion to $28.2 billion, again ahead of estimates…

• See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out.

The creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, are reported to have agreed a deal to stream the show on Paramount+.

Tesla yesterday reported the sharpest fall in quarterly revenue in over ten years as it missed Wall Street estimates for Q2. Revenues in the June quarter fell by 12% to $22.5 billion against estimates of $22.7 billion. Net ­income fell 16 per cent to $1.2 billion. The company delivered 384,122 vehicles in the quarter, down 14 per cent on Q2 last year.

FINANCE & MARKETS:

Higher government borrowing is seen by many as making tax rises in the autumn more likely. Although a cut is still thought likely on 7 August, high borrowing may also make interest rate cuts less likely in the medium term.

The SMMT has reported that car and commercial vehicle manufacturing fell by 11.9% in H1 this year. It says pressures were easing by June, when production rose by 6.6%. Some 76.9% of output is sold overseas. The SMMT says ‘the EU remains the main destination for UK car exports (54.4% share), followed by the US (15.9%) China (7.5%), Turkey (4.1%) and Japan (2.7%)…

Sterling up at $1.3578 and €1.1535. Oil lower at $68.78. UK 10 year gilt yield up 7 basis points at 4.64%. World markets better yesterday and London set to open around 40 points higher as at 6.30am.

RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB:

• See premium. Reply for sample or to upgrade. Single £395, multiple £695. Limited time offer: PayPal alternative monthly £25 + VAT per sub. Easy in, easy out.