A washout Easter and the collapse of a major industry supplier look set to cause further headaches to the already-bruised retail and leisure sectors.

The long Easter weekend has traditionally been a strong sales driver for consumer-facing companies. However, the past weekend’s terrible weather may have deterred people from going out to eat, drink or enjoy leisure activities.

Easter can often result in busy pub gardens and packed theme parks if the weather is nice. Therefore this year’s bad weather doesn’t bode well for the likes of pub chains such as Greene King (GNK) and  Mitchell & Butlers (MAB), as well as theme park operator  Merlin Entertainments (MERL).

Also disrupting the sector is the collapse of drinks distributor  Conviviality (CVR:AIM). Its troubles may have caused temporary disruption to supplies for some of its customers, including budget pub chain JD Wetherspoon (JDW) and Revolution Bars (RBG:AIM).

At the time of writing cider maker C&C (CCR) was in talks to buy the distribution arm of Conviviality and several unnamed parties were in discussions about buying Bargain Booze, the retail arm of Conviviality.

Reports suggested many Bargain Booze stores were experiencing supply problems, which could have encouraged shoppers to go to rival alcohol sellers such as convenience store chain McColl’s Retail (MCLS). (LMJ)

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