BUZZ-Mitchells & Butlers: UK Budget hangover

** Pub chain Mitchells & Butlers under pressure asDeutsche Bank cuts rating on stock to "hold" vs "buy" in thewake of Chancellor George Osborne's Budget which raised theminimum wage

** Stock, down 2.5%, 2nd-top UK midcap faller,taking its post-budget decline to 10%; minimum wage to rise by38 pct to £9 per hour by 2020

** DB flags greater medium-term pressure on M&B's cash-flowsfrom National Living Wage, as well as the potential to push evenfurther out the reinstatement of its dividend, to maybe FY18

** Broker also downgrades JD Wetherspoon by 9% dueto the 8% starter pay rise just agreed for August 2015

** JDW suffered its biggest one-day percentage drop in 5 yrson Wednesday when it warned of impact to margins from NLW

** DB sees Whitbread (BUY), Merlin (BUY) asleast affected by NLW of its UK group, with Greene King best placed having just completed an acquisition that shouldprovide hidden potential upside to offset much of the extraburden

** Number of other labour-intensive firms also at risk fromUK budget, according to strategists (RM: tricia.wright1.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)