AG Barr, Time Out, DOM, consumer, economy, flight cancellations & other:

A DAY IN THE LIFE:

Unfortunately for our dog, I’ve determined there’s a pretty strong inverse correlation between the quality of her life and the quality of ours.

Because, when we shut her out of the house and in the garden, it makes her life just that bit less pleasant and ours considerably better.

And ditto with shutting her out of rooms.

I mean, true, her pitiful whining can be a tad irritating and we have to cart the dog-wire gates around the house to shut her out of the kitchen when we’re preparing food, out of the living room when we want to leave any nibbles around and out of pretty much any room with carpets when she’s blathered in mud, but it’s worth it in the end.

However, I have to conclude that, if she lived to be a thousand, she’d still never tone down her begging behaviour, her general thievery or her overall filthiness in order to improve the quality of her life.

She’s just not wired that way and that, I suppose, is a characteristic that she shares with an immeasurable number of humans. 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:

The consumer:

Accountant RSM comments that ‘consumers remain cautious about the economic outlook, but there’s still appetite to spend, particularly for products that offer good value for money.’ Jacqui Baker, head of retail at RSM UK and chair of ICAEW’s Retail Group says ‘with discretionary incomes squeezed, consumers are being forced to make a trade-off between priority areas such as health and beauty, which continues to perform strongly, and lower priority categories such as household goods where individuals are holding off for discounts….’

• 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.

Economy:

The IMF has said that, following the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, ‘all roads lead to higher prices and slower growth worldwide’. The UK will not be unaffected as the price of oil, gas, fertiliser and all derivatives rise in price as a result of the conflict….

Other news:

Trading: UKH features comments made by Bruce Wilsonr, the National Head of Rating, at BNP Paribas Real Estate, saying that. whilst ‘the British pub has long been the cornerstone of our communities, yet it has faced a perfect storm of rising operational costs, evolving consumer habits, and a business rates system that many feel is outdated, increasingly complex and impossible to accurately forecast with any real certainty….’

• 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:

Time Out Group has reported H1 numbers to end-December 2025 saying that revenues rose by 2% to £39.8m and that adjusted EBITDA was up by 23% at £6.0m. The group reports an overall loss before tax of £7.0m (FY25: loss £6.8m)…

• 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.

Domino’s Pizza Group reports that Nicola Frampton, currently Interim CEO, is to be appointed as permanent CEO of Domino’s. The company says that ‘Nicola’s appointment comes after a comprehensive external and internal search process, through which the Board determined that she is the outstanding candidate to lead the company on a permanent basis….’

• 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.

Cornish Bakery has announced that it has ‘opened its new design-led bakery in Lincoln. The bespoke new bakery opened on Saturday 28th March.’

Stonegate Group has noted a drop in revenue for the 16 weeks to 18 January to £476m (from £505m in the comparative period last year) but it reports that profits were higher.

Leicestershire-based brewer and pub company Everards has reported numbers to end-September 2025 saying that revenue rose to £37.9m from £36.2m in the prior year. The company reports adjusted operating profit up by 33% to £3.6m….

• 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.

AG BARR – FULL YEAR RESULTS:

AG Barr reports that revenue for the year came in at £437.3m against £420.4m in the prior year. Adjusted PBT is £65.8m (FY25: £58.5m) and EPS is 42.3p (FY25: 35.8p). The full year dividend has been increased by 11% to 18.71p. The company reports that its revenue growth was ‘reflecting pleasing performances and growing momentum in the core soft drinks brands of IRN-BRU, Rubicon and Boost.’ It says that its margin rose by 120bps to 14.8%, ‘led by efficiency and strong cost discipline’ and reports ‘cash generated by operations of £64.9m, up 12.7% versus the prior year.’ Good cash flow supports ‘both the growth strategy and a further increase in the dividend.’ Net cash at bank was £41.6m ‘following outflows related to acquisitions of Frobishers and Innate-Essence during the period.’

• 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:

Airlines globally are reported to be cancelling thousands of flights as the price of jet fuel has doubled. Cirium reports that, currently, around 5% of flights daily are being cancelled. This is around twice the level of cancellations seen in this month last year. Jet fuel cost of $742 a metric tonne around a year ago now stands at $1,710.

Sky reports that Travelodge CEO Jo Boydell says she is ‘desperately sorry’ that an attacker was given access to a female guest’s room in 2022. She says the incident had left her ‘absolutely horrified’. Travelodge said it has made immediate changes to its security policy, and no extra room keys will be permitted without the explicit consent of the guest on the booking.

Google UK boss Kate Alessi has said that a ban on social media for under-16s is not the ‘right approach’. She told the PA that it did not support ‘blanket bans’ for products such as YouTube….

The RAC has said that this Easter long weekend should be the busiest Easter on the roads in the UK for four years, despite higher fuel prices. Some 21m journeys are expected to be made, over 1m more than at this time last year….

The city of Cardiff is set to introduce a Visitor Levy for overnight stays from April 2027. The levy, which has now been approved by Cardiff Council, will see a fee added to overnight stays from that date….

• 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.

Carnival updated on Q1 trading on Friday, saying ‘we delivered a strong start to the year, with record first-quarter operating results that exceeded our guidance, driven by healthy fundamentals and solid execution across the business…’

OTHER LEISURE:

Sony is to raise the price of a PlayStation 5 by £90 this week to £569.99. Sony says ‘we know that price changes impact our community, and after careful evaluation, we found this was a necessary step to ensure we can continue delivering innovative, high-quality gaming experiences to players worldwide.’

The Daily Mail reports ‘industry bosses’ as saying that the near doubling in online gambling taxes could be an own goal for the Treasury and could shrink revenues from the sector. Revenue raising, one would presume, was never meant to be the whole story…

• 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.

Universal Music Group has announced that it will buy back some €500m worth of its own shares.

FINANCE & MARKETS:

Oil spiked before edging back yesterday as the market absorbed comments from US president Donald Trump. Mr Trump said he was considering taking Kharg Island.

Zoopla reports that house buyer enquiries were down 13% in March this year compared with the same month last year. Commenting on the pre-Iran war month of February, the Bank of England separately comments that UK mortgage lending picked up in February, with approvals at their highest level in three months.

Sterling lower at $1.3200 and €1.1511. Oil down from yesterday’s highs at $113.13. UK 10 year gilt yield down 5 basis points at 4.94%. World markets mixed yesterday and London set to open around 12 points lower 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.