Trading, tips, Budget, JDW, ROO, Curzon, Professionals at Play & other:

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

In a message to anyone out there still suffering from drought conditions, we feel we can give away some water for free.

Because it’s been quite wet up here and, although not enough water may yet be in the reservoirs, we have collected enough in various drums, butts and plastic dustbins, that we feel we can afford to be generous.

Buyer collects, of course.

Good luck with that and it’s only fair to say that the bits of the water that aren’t green are a bit brown, the latter because it percolates through the mouldy pine needles that live on the shed roof before it hits the guttering where, presumably, the green gets added.

Still, it’s here if you want it and, with the forecast today and tomorrow for rain, followed by heavy rain and then heavier rain, we could still be on the offer come Monday.

Have a good weekend and let’s move on to the news:

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PUBS & RESTAURANTS:

Budget lobbying:

CEO of Tesco, Ken Murphy, yesterday accompanied Tesco’s H1 numbers with a statement warning the government not to heap more costs on business in its upcoming November Budget. Mr Murphy said his ‘industry incurred substantial additional operating costs’ and he added ‘enough is enough…’

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Trading:

S4Labour reports that treading momentum slowed for the hospitality sector in September. It says that its latest sales figures ‘reveal a mixed picture for UK hospitality in September 2025, with overall sales down just 0.1% year-on-year. London continues to lead the way, with a 7.9% increase in like-for-like sales compared to the same month last year. In contrast, non-London regions saw a decline of 2.7%….’

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Tips:

U-Rocked reports that some 54% of customers do not believe that restaurants pass all their tips on to staff, despite the fact that the Allocation of Tips Act has been on the statute books for over a year….

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JD WETHERSPOON – FULL YEAR NUMBERS:

JDW reports revenues up by 4.5% over the year to £2.13bn. LFL sales are up by 5.1%. The group reports underlying EPS up by 4.5% at 50.8p and the dividend is unchanged at 12.0p. Net debt excluding IFRS16 lease debt was £724m, up from £660m a year ago. Current trading: JDW reports that in the nine weeks to 28 September 2025, LFL sales rose by 3.2%. This is ahead of the CGA tracker but below the current rate of inflation.

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COMPANY NEWS:

Professionals at Play, formerly Roxy Leisure, which owns Roxy Ballroom, Roxy Lands and King Pins amongst its 22 (as at December last year)  venues, has reported numbers for the 52 weeks to 29 Dec 2024 to Companies’ House saying that revenues rose by 24% to £40.6m. Operating profit fell by 4% to £2.9m. Interest charges rose to £1.3m (FY23: £1.0m) and the profit before tax was down by 19% at £1.64m. The company has accumulated profits of £3.7m and shareholders’ funds of £4.9m…

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DoorDash in the US yesterday commented on its takeover of Deliveroo (now de-listed) from its own point of view, saying that ‘the scheme [to acquire Deliveroo] became effective in accordance with its terms.’ It says ‘the combination with Deliveroo will strengthen DoorDash’s position as a global leader in local commerce, enabling the combined entity to better serve businesses, consumers and couriers….’

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The cyber attack on Japan’s Asahi reportedly means that the country is facing a shortage of Asahi products, with some possibly set to run out next week.

HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL:

RSM comments HotStats information on the UK hotel industry saying that occupancy of UK hotels increased from 81.4% to 82.1% in August year-on-year, and rose slightly from 84.2% to 84.5% in London. It adds that ‘despite this, hoteliers weren’t able to increase room rates, with average daily rates of occupied rooms being flat in the UK (£155.20 vs £154.98) in August year-on-year and down from £214.86 to £210.77 in London….’

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STR reports that the US hotel industry reported lower numbers in the week to 27 September. It says that occupancy, impacted by the Rosh Hashanah holiday, fell by 4.2pps to 65.6% and SDR slipped by 2.5% to US$166.48. REVPAR, as a result, was down by 6.6%.

Long-stay hotel group Extended Stay America has reportedly secured a $1.9 billion loan from a consortium of banks led by JPMorgan Chase. The extended-stay hotel sector has recently felt the impact of increased supply according to CoStar data with room supply up 5.2% year over year in August.

OTHER LEISURE:

Curzon Media Group, the UK cinema chain that is ultimately controlled by private equity company Fortress Investment, has reported full year numbers to end-December 2024 to Companies’ House. The company reports that revenues in the year rose by 11.8% to £31.6m. The group made a reduced operating loss of £1.4m (FY23: loss £1.7m). The loss before tax but after interest charges in FY24 was reduced to £1.7m (FY23: loss £4.3m). The higher loss in the prior year was due to interest charges of £2.6m against £338k in the year under review. Debt interest is charged by related parties and it may be within the gift of Curzon’s owner to change the debt terms and coupon….

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Sky, now owned by Comcast, is reported to have made a pre-tax profit of £253m on revenues of £8.7bn for its latest financial year.

The BBC reports that ‘TikTok’s algorithm recommends pornography and highly sexualised content to children’s accounts, according to a new report by a human rights campaign group.’

FINANCE & MARKETS:

Sterling weaker at $1.343 and €1.1468. Oil lower at $64.64. UK 10 year gilt yield unchanged at 4.70%. World markets mixed yesterday and London set to open around 15 points higher as at 6.30am.

RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB:

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