Whitbread Confident on Margins, But Costs May Weigh -- Market Talk
Whitbread Confident on Margins, But Costs May Weigh -- Market Talk
0919 GMT - Shares in Whitbread gain 2.6% after the Premier Inn owner reported a narrower first-half pretax loss and said it was confident about returning to pre-pandemic U.K. profit margins. Still, the company is facing wage inflation as a result of rising labor shortages in the U.K. hospitality sector, which means it will have to boost pay significantly and pay out bonuses to attract enough staff, AJ Bell says. That's why Whitbread didn't provide a timescale on a return to pre-pandemic margins, the brokerage says. "At least the company has a strong balance sheet to help it meet staffing and supply-chain challenges," Bell analyst Russ Mould says. (philip.waller@wsj.com)
0919GMT-惠特布萊德的股價上漲2.6%，此前這家Premier Inn的所有者報告上半年税前虧損收窄，並表示有信心恢復到大流行前的英國利潤率。AJ Bell説，儘管如此，由於英國酒店業勞動力短缺加劇，該公司仍面臨工資上漲的問題，這意味着它將不得不大幅加薪併發放獎金，以吸引足夠多的員工。該經紀公司表示，這就是惠特布萊德沒有提供疫情前利潤率恢復的時間表的原因。貝爾公司分析師拉斯·莫爾德説：“至少該公司擁有強大的資產負債表，可以幫助它應對人員配備和供應鏈方面的挑戰。”(Philip.waller@wsj.com)