We’ve had a slew of updates from London’s pub companies so far this week, all of which have pretty much said the same thing: the hot weather and football over summer was good for drinks sales, but bad for food.
While that isn’t good news for the likes of Mitchells & Butlers PLC (LON:MAB), which owns the Harvester and Toby Carvery restaurant chains, it bodes well for Fuller Smith & Turner PLC (LON:FSTA).
The £300mln company, which is due to report its half-year results on Friday, is much more drinks-focused which means it should have received a big boost from the football and heatwave.
That said, pubs are still facing rising wage costs, higher business rates and increased food and drink costs, while intense competition is keeping prices low.
Investors will want to see how that is affecting margins, and some guidance on cost inflation for the year ahead would be handy, as well.
Black Friday bonanza
Aside from that, there is very little in the way of scheduled corporate updates, so attention will likely turn to Black Friday – the weekend-long ‘day’ of sales brought to our shores by US ecommerce giant Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN).
There has been much debate in recent weeks about how good the deals actually are on Black Friday, but us Brits are expected to part with £2.4bn, although that’s slightly less than what we spent last year.
Despite the scepticism, it signals the unofficial start of the Christmas trading period, a make or break time for the nation’s retailers.
Significant events expected on Friday November 23:
Interims: Fuller Smith & Turner PLC (LON:FTSA), Record PLC (LON:REC)
Finals: Future PLC (LON:FUTR)
Updates: Origin Enterprises PLC (LON:OGN)
AGMs: Base Resources PLC (LON:BSE)