Lex Midweek Letter: an injection of confidence

Dear readers,

In 2020, the fun-loving cavalier turned into a Christmas-cancelling puritan. But this year UK prime minister Boris Johnson looks set to relax again, presiding over ever-loosening restrictions. On Monday he promised a “one-way road to freedom” as he unveiled a strategy for return to normality by June 21 — midsummer’s day.

That’s too slow for some. One MP described the announcement as a “hammer blow”. Some overstretched pubs are still fearful they will have to call time for good. But the timetable is in line with Lex’s prediction back in December. A note titled “Midsummer Gladness” argued that would be the point when vaccination would allow a return to semi-normality.

The news certainly provided a boost for the travel sector. Thomas Cook, the online travel company, reported a 60 per cent leap in traffic on its website following the prime minister’s announcement. Europe’s largest tour operator Tui reported a 500 per cent week-on-week rise in bookings for holidays in Greece, Spain and Turkey from July onwards. 

Britain was on the cusp of becoming the first country in the world to safely resume international travel and trade at scale, said Heathrow’s chief executive John Holland-Kaye on Wednesday. Understandably he sounds hopeful. The airport, taken private by a consortium led by Ferrovial in a highly leveraged takeover in 2006, made a £2bn loss last year, pushing net debt up almost 6 per cent to £13.1bn. Though it has enough liquidity to last until 2023, it needs passenger numbers to bounce back. Last year, they fell to levels not seen since the 1970s.

Anglo-Spanish airline group IAG is similarly in dire need of a recovery in air traffic. Its British Airways subsidiary on Monday announced the deferral of £450m of pension contributions. With its fleet largely grounded, it needs to conserve all the cash it can.

But travel to countries that have not got Covid-19 under control will be constrained. Rating agency Moody’s expressed caution, saying the timeline for easing lockdown restrictions could still be derailed by concerns over new Covid-19 variants. Trade body Iata this month warned that travel demand might recover only 13 per cent compared with last year’s very low level. If that happened, airlines would go on burning cash throughout the year. 

On a more general point, there is agreement though. There is plenty of pent-up demand. Household bank deposits were up 10 per cent at the end of December compared with a year earlier. This is not evenly spread. More people report that their savings have fallen than risen. Richer households tend not to spend their wealth. Even so, the huge build-up of cash savings — the most liquid subset of household wealth — means the hospitality sector stands to benefit. Many economists expect a Roaring Twenties-style splurge. 

Underpinning the optimism is more evidence of vaccine success. New data from Scotland this week showed a very substantial fall in hospital admissions after the rollout of vaccines. The results in older age groups were “very encouraging”. That is significant because several countries including Germany have so far opted only to use the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine for younger age groups. 

The benefits of vaccination are also not evenly spread. It particularly helps face-to-face services worst hit by Covid-19 social-distancing requirements. Vaccination will make less difference to trade-dependent sectors grappling with the complexities of Brexit, the other big drag on the UK’s economic performance.

Here, too, a positive story can be told. After four years when many global investors shied away from UK equities exposure, the recent trade deal, however limited, provides some reassurance.

Funds are now flowing into domestic stocks. They are seen as relatively cheap and beneficiaries of a tilt towards value stocks. Sterling has rallied sharply this year. Having the fastest vaccine rollout of any large country has given the UK an unusual first-mover advantage, analysts say. Should that continue, expect a degree of exuberance to return.

Enjoy the rest of the week,

Vanessa Houlder
Lex writer