Trading, food prices, AB InBev, Ronnie Scott’s, Rank Group & other:

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

In the same way that a teacher won’t get much response if they say ‘put your hand up if you’re not here’, I shouldn’t have been too surprised when I forgot to download a memory-helper app / game from Google Store the other day.

But now I’ve written it down as a task, it might happen.

And at the very least I’ll wonder what on earth I’ve scribbled down before throwing the note out in due course but the object of the exercise is to minimise the number of occasions on which I have two, three or four stabs at it before getting one of my kids’ names right.

One of the costs of getting older, perhaps.

There still isn’t that much of it but, before it slips my memory, let’s move on to the news:

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PUBS & RESTAURANTS:

Trading – calendar 2025:

S4 Labour reports that ‘strong December trading sees hospitality sales rise 3.4% Y-o-Y’. This is a single-month number and the increase for the calendar year is not given…

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Trading – Christmas:

The Oxford Partnership reports that ‘hospitality’s Christmas trading period was increasingly shaped by fewer but higher-value occasions, with performance concentrated into a small number of peak days rather than spread evenly across December.’ It says that its ‘analysis shows that venues were not materially fuller over the festive period, but consumers stayed for longer, spent more per visit and traded up when the occasion felt worth it.’ It adds that ‘growth was driven by how people used hospitality once inside, rather than increases in overall footfall….’

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Food prices:

The BRC and NIQ have reported that food price inflation in the year to December rose to 3.3% (from 3.0% in the year to November). Fresh food prices rose by 3.8% in the year to December (up from 3.6%)….

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Consumer behaviour:

Fewer mortgages, more credit card borrowing. Monthly figures will move around a bit, but data from the Bank of England shows that mortgage approvals fell in November – perhaps tying in with December’s house price drop per The Nationwide – but credit card borrowing rose…

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COMPANY NEWS:

AB InBev has announced that it has exercised its right to reacquire the 49.9% minority stake in its US canning plants from ‘a consortium of institutional investors led and/or advised by affiliates of Apollo Global Management Inc…for a price estimated to be approximately 3 billion USD.’ The purchase comprises seven facilities across six states in the US. The purchase will ‘be funded with cash-on-hand/’

Jazz Bar Ronnie Scott’s has reported results for the year to 31 March 2025 to Companies’ House saying that revenue slipped by 10.1% to £12.74m. GP% also fell, to 61.1% from 61.8% in the prior year with he result that gross profit fell to £7.78m from £8.76 in FY24. Operating profit was some 59% lower at £1.28m. The group has interest receivable, rather than payable, and PBT was £1.36m against £3.29m in FY24. Ronnie Scott’s has retained earnings of £3.15m and positive net worth of £4.02m…

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HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL:

Boutique hotel The Udny Arms Hotel, located Newburgh, Aberdeenshire, has entered administration with Kevin Mapstone of Begbies Traynor appointed administrator on 18 December 2025.

OTHER LEISURE:

The Rank Group Plc has announced that CEO John O’Reilly ‘has, following discussions with the Board, informed the Board of his intention to retire…effective from 29 January 2026.’ The company says ‘he will continue to support the business until the end of the current 2025/26 financial year.’ Rank goes on to say that current CFO ‘Richard Harris, will be appointed the interim CEO with effect from 30 January 2026….’

The Daily Mail reports CEO of David Lloyd fitness centres Russell Barnes as saying that his clubs will benefit from the fitness binge that usually follows Christmas excess. He says ‘we’ll open another 15 clubs across the UK and Europe by 2027, and have identified about 100 opportunities in the UK for us to target over the next ten years…’

City AM reports that ‘the majority of Brits say that the government should not use taxpayer money to support professional football and rugby clubs that are teetering on the edge of financial difficulty….’

FINANCE & MARKETS:

The Resolution Foundation reports that tough trading could push a large numbers over the financial edge this year. It says that higher (though now falling) interest rates could combine with higher energy and wage costs, which could force firms under.

Some 150 countries have agreed a deal to stop large global companies from moving profits to wherever they pay the least tax. But the US is exempt from the deal.

The SMMT reports that Chinese brands took 9.7% of the UK car market in calendar 2025. It says that total sales topped 2m and electric car sales rose by almost a quarter year on year to take 23.4% of the market. BYD sales rose by a factor of five to 51,000 cars.

Sterling up at $1.3546 and €1.1553. Oil up at $61.57. UK 10 year gilt yield down 3 basis points at 4.51%. World markets better yesterday with the FTSE100 breaking the 10,000 point barrier. London set to open around 39 points higher as at 6.30am.

RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB:

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