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Source:Extarz, Shutterstock
Summary
- UK minister Nadhim Zahawi said that vaccine certificates will no longer be needed to visit a restaurant or a pub in England as they reopen on 12 April.
- JD Wetherspoon Plc and Marston’s Plc share prices rose by 2.78 per cent and 1.22 per cent respectively in the afternoon trade after minister’s announcement.
Vaccine certificates will no longer be needed to visit a restaurant or a pub in England as they reopen from next week, said Nadhim Zahawi, Minister, Covid Vaccine Deployment. However, he said that the government had not ruled out their usage in the future. JD Wetherspoon (LON: JDW) and Marston’s Plc (LON: MARS) share prices rose by 2.78 per cent and 1.22 per cent, respectively, in the afternoon trade after Zahawi’s announcement.
The UK government plans to ease the lockdown in England from 12 April. From that day, 7,000 gyms and leisure centres, 402,000 non-essential shops and 21,000 personal care premises would be allowed to re-open in the nation. On 12 April, shops, outdoor restaurants, and pub beer gardens would reopen, and there would be no need for any kind of certification to go there, said PM Boris Johnson. Similarly, on 17 May when indoor restaurants and pubs reopen, there would be no need for any certification, he added.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index rose 1.25 per cent to 6821.35 points on 6 April at 2.32 PM after the news of dropping the vaccine certificate requirement with the reopening from a coronavirus lockdown starting next week was announced.
Industry reaction
The UK pubs industry hailed the government decision of eliminating the need for vaccine certificates. Few days back, the industry had largely rejected the vaccine checks idea when the government had floated it as a plausible option to safely reopen the sector. The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) said that such checks might be unworkable and even inappropriate. JD Wetherspoon had said that it had not made a final decision regarding implementing such a rule in case it became mandatory.
Pub stocks
J D Wetherspoon Plc is an England-based pub company operating across the Ireland and UK. For the 26-week period ending 24 January, the company had a revenue of £431.1 million, down 53.8 per cent from the corresponding period in the previous year.
The JDW stock (market cap: £ 17.58 billion) was up 2.78 per cent to GBX 1403.00 at 2:50 PM on 6 April. The stock had a YTD return of 25.90 per cent at the time of reporting.
Marston's Plc is a UK-based pub, brewery and hotel operator. The company’s total pub revenue for the quarter ending 2 January 2021 was £54 million. MARS stock (market cap: £ 626 million) was up 1.22 per cent to GBX 100.00 at 2:53 PM on 6 April. The stock had a YTD return of 32.28 per cent at the time of reporting.
