Daily market update: FTSE 100 steady, Whitbread, Burberry, Mitchells & Butlers

The FTSE 100 looks set to end the week in decent fashion and US futures point to post-Thanksgiving gains when Wall Street opens for business.

UK housebuilders remain in decent fettle after the Budget – which didn’t contain any nasty surprises in terms of property taxes, bar the so-called ‘mansion tax’.

The exception to the sector’s positivity is Berkeley which has greater exposure to the premium end of the market where the new supplementary council tax charges are more relevant.

Gilt yields are modestly higher again but relatively stable after Wednesday’s leak-induced volatility and when compared with the reaction to previous fiscal events in the UK. For now, the Budget has only registered as a mild tremor on the market Richter scale, much to the relief of the government.

Asian markets were mixed but mainly kept afloat by continuing hopes of a pre-Christmas rate cut from the Federal Reserve, with investors increasingly pricing in a similar move from the Bank of England at its own meeting in December.

Broker ratings changes don’t always grab investors’ attention but a double downgrade from analysts on Premier Inn owner Whitbread has sparked a big reaction. The share price has been shaken to its foundations by Bernstein making a handbrake turn from a positive to a negative view on the hotels group.

Luxury brand Burberry is also down, albeit more modestly, on a downgrade from JPMorgan.

Mitchells & Butlers

In a market where many pubs and restaurants continue to struggle, Mitchells & Butlers is managing to keep its head above water. It has served up a perfectly respectable set of results with profit ticking higher, alongside signs of progress at the start of its new financial year.

That resilience was enough to whet investors’ appetite and send the share price soaring. Investors must wait until another time for the dividend to return but the pace of debt reduction is promising, and it means the balance sheet is strengthening.

Persistent cost headwinds are a challenge, particularly as the minimum wage is going up again and food price inflation continues to rear its ugly head. Mitchells & Butlers can fiddle with portion sizes and switch to cheaper cuts of meat as cost management measures, but it can only do so much without ruining the customer experience. That suggests a Sunday roast at its outlets might become a little bit more expensive in 2026.

Mitchells & Butlers’ brands including Harvester and Toby Carvery might seem like faded names of the past, yet they are still resonating with the public as a trusted place to get a meal. It’s simple, reliable fodder and sometimes that’s all people want.