Member Info for mango

Whitbread has zero exposure to the Middle East??

Seriously?

High fuel prices have an enormous impact on household budgets leaving less available for hotel stays. Businesses too will be seeing where they can save money.

I personally have noticed many holiday destinations which are normally fully booked for summer at this time of year, still have numerous vacancies!!

I see this pay rise as a positive. M and S will then be able to retain srmtaff for longer and recruit them more easily at lower cost as people will want to work there.

There's nothing worse than trying to run a business where you pay to recruit staff, spend money training them .. and then they leave a few weeks latee gor a few bob more!!

M and S got away with low pay in days of yore as it was considered a bit posher than working in Woolies or Tesco and the staff got freebies like hairdressing and subsidised food. Those days are long gone and I believe this will be almost cost neutral in the long run taking into account the savings in recruitment and thecincrease inproductivity due to having long term staff!

If this pay increase has caused a large share price drop it merely shows in my opinion that institutional investors have a poor grasp of the workings of real businesses!!

But 10s of millions CAN afford Diageos Premium products especially in the huge markets of India and China where the new middle classes value premium goods.

A careful marketing strategy is needed to avoid destroying brand value of premium products. Cutting prices of luxury products is a slippery slope. Look what happened to Burberry in the early 2000s!!

Cutting prices of non premium ranges is another matter.

Letx column in Saturday FT. "going long tiny computers isn't a bad strategy "

https://www.ft.com/technology-sector.

Behind a payment wall...

If RPI is taken over someone will be in the frame for insider dealing methinks!!

Tariffs on whisky reduced from 10 to 5%. Should help Johnnie Walker , especially Black Label sales!

Starmers visit has

What's stopping them?

In my opinion it's the quality of the competition. There are numerous small chains in Europe and some are equivalent in quality to Premier Inn at lower cost.

The price paid is the problem. $225million for an early stage company. Plus possibly another $225 million depending on results.

Omg we gonna have to drink moonshine down in the holler!!

Sorry watching "Justified" on Netflix over Christmas.. where Jim Beam is heavily featured.

Is the incoming CEO likely to Kitchen sink any bad News and potential bad news eg a dividend cut.. bit like Kier Starmer becoming PM ...With similarly dire effects on DGE sp?

I would guess this means a further price drop in the short term.

@Hiphopopotamus. Yes I agree thats the point the point they were were trying to make !

BUT, the point is misplaced. The government policy was not really aimed at hospitality businesses at all but at high street retail who cant compete against online giants and to a lesser extent out of town retailers.

Kate Nichols then goes on to plead for " local pubs, neighbourhood restaurants and coastal hotels.". Which hardly applies to a business like Whitbread.

Whitbread themselves need to make their own case to government . That is: the new tax regime is likely to lead to a downturn in the hotel industry with a consequent loss of tax receipts and an increase in benefit payments as thousands of jobs are lost.

The current government cannot take the risk of sending the economy into a downward spiral.

I assume that the players in the industry will be on the case.

What an odd statement. How does hospitality have an online competitor? There is no- one to level the playing field with...on line hotels, restaurants and pubs don't exist.

The research I have read shows that there is a growing market in both China and India ...among those that actually drink. It may be the case that total alcohol production and by inference consumption has gone down especially in China but among people who still drink there is a growing market.

Its the drinkers who are the target market. Not necessarily by getting them to drink more ..better to get them to trade up to Diageo's premium brands.

Your figures refer to the UK . Diageo is a GLOBAL business.

Both India and China the two most populous countries on the planet by far both have RISING alcohol consumption.

So the demographics globally are in Diageo's favour.

I imagine Diageo's new leader Dave Lewis will be acutely aware of this. Hopefully minds will be focused and results will follow!

So glad....🤣😂

14:25

Think you may have a long wait for that….Xmas will come sooner ...

I can wait till January! 😅

Waiting now forb SP to dip below 1000 before reinvesting!!

The dip because of budget fears was irrational . Premier Inn competitors all face the same challenges.

Premier Inn is the strongest brand in its sector . , Much more upside for this stock IMHO.

(Sharecast News) - Australian bank Macquarie has been given an extension on its deadline to table a firm bid for waste management company Renewi to February 13 or walk away.

News of further delay. Should I have sold a couple of months ago?