Everyman, Tortilla, State of Play, jobs, interest rates, trading & other:

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

Am I the only one who, having struggled through to another Friday, having braved almost five full days of computer glare, distracting social media fluff and the odd phone call, feels just a tad disappointed when there’s no blare of trumpets, a garland and maybe even a medal and a cash prize?

Or maybe the above is just a sign that sympathy isn’t equally spread and that, no matter how empathetic you might think you are, you have more sympathy for yourself than you do for other people?

Indeed, if your relatives-of-yore could come back and see what many of us do, they’d think we didn’t have a job at all. They’d think it was wall to wall gossip, fun and frolics and, if they said ‘you want to work the trawlers for a week, mate’, you’d have to accept that they may have a point.

This, for example, must have been a very bad month for a small city.

Anyway, enough of that. The medal is clearly on hold, so have a good weekend, good luck to Hull versus Bristol on Saturday and let’s move on to the news:

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PUBS & RESTAURANTS:

Interest rates:

Though the decision, at 5-4, was perhaps tighter than expected, the Bank of England yesterday held UK interest rates at 3.75%. It has said that further cuts are now ‘likely’ later in the year as inflation heads towards the Bank’s 2% target…

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Trading:

S4labour has reported strong growth across the hospitality industry in January. It says that it was ‘another encouraging month for UK hospitality, with overall like for like sales up 5.5% in January compared to the same period last year. This builds on the momentum seen in December, when sales rose 3.4%….’

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Jobs and the High Street

A bit negative for both in that NatWest has said that it will close more than 30 bank branches this year and next. Mobile and online services are picking up the slack but this doesn’t help High Street footfall…

More on jobs: Redundancies likely at Wedgwood in Stoke and potentially at fashion chain Quiz, which has now entered administration for the third time. The above, whilst small in the scale of the UK employment market in total, does have the potential to influence the confidence to spend.

The UK fast food market:

Meaningful Vision has updated on the UK fast-food sector in calendar 2025 saying that, on the face of it, it ‘delivered a solid performance in 2025.’ Its data suggests that footfall ‘rose by 0.9% year on year, in sharp contrast to restaurants and pubs, which together lost almost 7% of visits.’ Meaningful Vision, however, says that ‘a closer look reveals that this growth was driven far more by expansion than by rising consumer demand….’

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COMPANY NEWS:

Tortilla has announced management changes saying that CEO Andy Naylor is to step down as CEO after eight years with the Company. It reports that ‘Brandon Stephens, Founder, appointed as Group CEO to lead the next phase of Tortilla’s development.’ Tortilla adds that ‘Mac Plumpton, former Managing Director of LEON, joins the senior leadership team as UK CEO’ and Marta Pogroszewska, former Managing Director of Bread Holdings Ltd (parent company of Gail’s), joins the Board as Non-Executive Director…

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Amazon yesterday reported quarterly markets and, saying that it planned to spend some $200bn on developing its AI capabilities, it spooked the market with the share falling by around 10%. Sales for the full year rose by 31% to $77.7bn, up 12%.

State of Play hospitality, which interactive games concepts Bounce and Hijingo in the UK Flight Club in the US under licence, has reported accounts for the year to 30 March 2025 to Companies House. During the year under review, the company reports a decrease in turnover by 0.3% to £46.8m. Gross margin rose to 85.5% from 83.0%. Admin costs were cut by 6.3% to £41.7m but, as exceptional costs rose from 2.1m to £6.5m, operating losses actually rose to £7.9m from £7.5m in the prior year….

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HOLIDAYS & LEISURE TRAVEL:

The FT reports that ‘international travel to the US has plunged in the first year of Donald Trump’s second term, as the president has overseen a dramatic expansion of immigration enforcement, mounting scrutiny at the border and global tariffs….’

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RSM updates on the UK hotel market saying that ‘despite occupancy and room rates of UK hotels holding up in December, the squeeze on operating profits marked a drab end to the Christmas season.’ It says that occupancy rose from 72.5% to 73.6% in December year-on-year, but fell from 82% to 81.4% in London….

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Spa and wellness business Truffle Lodge in Fishlake, near Doncaster, has been sold as a going concern.

Uber has said that it should be offering rides in autonomous vehicles (AVs or driverless cars) in 15 cities across the world by the end of this year. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told an earnings call that AV trips will be launched in London, Zurich, Madrid and Munich this year, as well as in Los Angeles, Houston, the San Francisco Bay Area and in Hong Kong.

CoStar reports that US hotel occupancy fell by 4.3% y-o-y in the week to 31 January. The weather had an impact. It adds that ADR rose by 0.2% and REVPAR was down by 4.0%.

OTHER LEISURE:

Everyman Media Group plc has announced ‘the strengthening of its leadership team with the appointment of a new Chief Financial Officer and Interim Creative Director.’ Sheree Manning has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer of the Group. The company says she ‘is expected to join on 9 February 2026, with her appointment to the Board of Directors effective on 24 February 2026….’

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The Guardian reports that ‘a spending spree by Hollywood studios and streamers pushed investment in film production in the UK to a record £2.8bn last year, but growth is expected to slow this year as Netflix switches investment to the US.

Peloton has reported financial Q2 numbers to end-December saying that total revenue fell by 3% to $657 million. It says that it made a GAAP Net loss of $39 million.

The Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper The Washington Post has announced that it is to lay off around a third of its staff and cut back on its field of reporting.

FINANCE & MARKETS:

Interest rates – see Pubs & Restaurants above.

S&P yesterday reported its PMI for the UK construction industry saying that its measure edged up to 46.4, up from 40.1 in December. Whilst better, this is below the 50.0 threshold between expansion and contraction.

The European Central Bank yesterday held interest rates steady for the fifth meeting in a row at 2.0%. Inflation in the Eurozone has edged back to 1.7%.

The price of alternative assets such as Bitcoin, and gold and silver bullion fell sharply yesterday. The price of silver is now down by almost 40% from its one-month high. Gold was yesterday afternoon trading at $4,900 an ounce, having peaked at over $5,500 less than a fortnight ago….

Sterling weaker at $1.3568 and €1.1504. Oil up at $68.43. UK 10 year gilt yield up one basis point at 4.57%. World markets mostly lower yesterday and London set to open around 49 points lower as at 6.30am.

RETAIL WITH NICK BUBB:

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