Trading, delivery, business confidence, coffee, Tasty, Dishoom & other:

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

Well, the rain over the weekend should freshen up the garden which, like me, is perhaps a little past its best and looks good these days only from a distance.

And a substantial distance at that.

The garden, that is, rather than yours truly because the flowers have started to falter, some stuff never got planted at all and the deadheading is more an aspiration than an actuality which is inevitable but something of a disappointment.

However, it’s pretty much in line with Lord Emsworth’s comments in PG Wodehouse’s Blandings books that early June, and in one comment he made the very specific 13th of June, is the high point for flowers.

After that, well, it’s never quite so good again.

Particularly if you take the lazy Devil route that leaving dead flowers blighting the landscape is ‘good for their roots’. 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

sent separately

PUBS & RESTAURANTS:

Trading:

CGA has updated on trading for the week to 12 July via its Daily Drinks Tracker saying that LFL sales in managed venues were 5% ahead of the same period in 2024. This represents ‘a strong turnaround from the previous seven days, when sales were down by 4%….’

• 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.

Delivery market:

Lumina Intelligence has produced an overview of the UK Food Delivery Market saying that it ‘continues to expand, with projected growth of 3.1% to reach a market size of £14.3bn in 2025….’

• 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.

Business confidence

The Institute of Directors has reported that its optimism / pessimism index has swung further to the negative with a move of 19 percentage points in July compared to the month before….

• 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.

Coffee:

Proposed duty at a rate of 50% on exports of Brazilian coffee to the US are scheduled to kick in on Wednesday (up from the current 10%). This will impact prices and divert supplies…

• 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.

Outside dining:

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has announced that Redchurch Street and Rivington Street in Shoreditch ‘will be offering al fresco dining and drinking, thanks to funding from the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan….’

Disposable incomes:

Consumers won’t need to be reminded that, despite statistically rising incomes in real terms, ready cash remains squeezed. Nonetheless, the Nationwide Building Society has been able to say that the average house in the UK now costs ‘only 5.75x average incomes compared to the 6.9x record high seen in 2022…

• 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:

The MCA writes that ‘while inflationary pressures have cooled from their 2023 highs, economic headwinds remain after the fallout of the Autumn Budget, where the government seemed to ignore all requests to support a sector that is so impacted by the increases in National Insurance contributions and the National Living Wage….’

• 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.

Provinces. Restaurant Online reports that ‘Manchester consumers are spending more on dining out compared to Londoners and are ‘more adventurous’ with their restaurant choices, according to new research published by Square.’

In the US, foodservice industry levels of employment fell in July per the US Bureau of Labour Statistics….

TASTY – PROPOSED FUND RAISE, RE-BRAND ETC:

Tasty, which underwent a major restructuring including debt rescheduling in 2024, has announced that it proposes a transaction whereby it purchases Ventnor Bay, a David Page vehicle and subsequently appoints Mr Page to the role of chairman, to be followed by a £10.25m placing and retail offer. Our comments are set out below:

The fund raise: Tasty has announced a proposed fundraising to raise £9.25m via a conditional placing of and subscription of new shares at a price of 0.5p per share. It is also a) undertaking a retail offer to raise up to £1m at the same price and b) issuing 40m shares to acquire 100% of Ventnor Bay, a company chaired by David Page, which has around £200k in cash. The group has this morning announced that it has been successful in raising £9.25m by way of a placing and subscription. The retail offer will remain open until Wednesday lunchtime.

Shareholders will need to approve the deal at a General Meeting on 21 August and the new shares will be listed from 22 August if the Meeting so approves. The ‘Issue Price represents a discount of approximately 13.9 per cent. to the 3-month volume weighted average price of 0.58 pence’. But it does represent a discount to the price that the shares jumped to after Sky News broke news of the proposed deal on Monday last week. The company’s largest shareholder, Mr Will Roseff, is putting in another £1.05m whilst incoming directors David Page and Nick Wong propose investing around £1.22m between them.

• 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:

The Times reports that the founders of Dishoom have sold down their stakes in the restaurant chain to an investment firm backed by LVMH, in a deal valuing the business at about £300 million….

• 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 FT reports that Starbucks is targeting the Luckin Coffee outlet recently opened in Manhattan ‘by plastering the windows of a vacant store across the street with advertising, highlighting how seriously it is taking the threat from the Chinese competitor…’

Tesla has officially opened its first Tesla Restaurant offering dining alongside charging and 24 hour movies on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood….

Neat Burger, whose backers included Sir Lewis Hamilton, has declared insolvency and appointed a voluntary liquidator.

JDE Peet, which is listed in Amsterdam, has raised its full-year earnings forecast after reporting good H! numbers…

HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL:

The FT reports commentators within the leisure travel industry as saying that British tourists are increasingly shunning classic summer hotspots, preferring to travel abroad later in the year when there is less risk of heatwaves or wildfires.

The REC reports that there will be fewer summer holiday jobs on offer in Cornwall this year. It says there are around 25% fewer job postings this year compared with last.

Regional airports at Exeter, Bournemouth and Norwich are set to be sold to investment firm ICG reports Sky News.

OTHER LEISURE:

The Telegraph reports that the National Lottery undertook the biggest technology overhaul in its 31-year history over the weekend.

FINANCE & MARKETS:

Sterling mixed at $1.3276 and €1.1474. Oil lower at $69.52. UK 10 year gilt yield down 4 basis points at 4.53%. World markets lower on Friday but mixed in Asia in Monday trade. London set to open up around 40 points 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.