Mitchells & Butlers holiday trading impacted by Omicron, Tesco lifts FY profits guidance

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Pub operator Mitchells & Butlers said on Thursday that it had initially made "a strong start to the year", with like-for-like sales growth of 2.7% over the first eight weeks, but warned that renewed Covid-19 restrictions on hospitality venues impacted trading during the all-important holiday trading period.

Concerns regarding the emergence of the Omicron variant in December had resulted in further caution in socialising which, in turn, brought about a downturn in activity across the sector and, as a result, like-for-like sales then dropped 6.0% over the seven weeks since its last update, with the adverse impact of the new variant being "particularly felt in the most recent four weeks" as like-for-like sales over the key festive season were down 10.2%.

UK supermarket chain Tesco lifted annual profits guidance on Thursday after posting better-than-expected third quarter and Christmas sales.

The FTSE 100-listed company said it now expects retail operating profits to be slightly above the top-end of its previous £2.5bn-2.6bn guidance, and forecasted bank operating profits to be between £160.0m-200.0m, due to the effect of more favourable economic forecasts on its provision for expected credit losses.

Newspaper round-up

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Restructuring group Hilco took a £25.0m dividend payment from the DIY chain Homebase in 2020 despite accepting at least £10.6m in government aid. The company, which bought Homebase for £1 in 2018 from its Australian owner, Wesfarmers, said it had accepted business rates relief for the Homebase chain on top of £10.6m in furlough payments and grants for the Bathstore chain, which was forced to close for many weeks under government high street lockdowns. - Guardian

EDF has announced a further delay to its flagship nuclear reactor project in France as it prepares to install the same design at power plants in Britain. The company said that fuel loading at its Flamanville 3 project in western France will be done six months later than previously planned, adding €300.0m (£250.0m) to the project's cost, which now stands at €12.7bn. - Telegraph

HSBC has been accused of hypocrisy after it increased the cost of a charity bank account. The lender now takes a £5 monthly account fee from charities and has introduced charges of 0.4% to pay in and withdraw cash - equivalent to £4 for a £1,000 donation. There is also a fee of 40.0p to deposit a cheque. Peter Catton, the treasurer at St Peter's Church in Sicklinghall, Leeds, said the fees amount to 1% of its income. - Telegraph

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US close

Wall Street stocks kept their heads above water on Wednesday, as market participants digested December's consumer price index reading.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.11% at 36,290.32, as the S&P 500 added 0.28% to 4,726.35 and the Nasdaq Composite was ahead 0.23% at 15,188.39.