Begbies Traynor warns of ‘black Christmas' for hotels and pubs
Business consultancy Begbies Traynor has warned of a "black Christmas" for hotels and pubs as customers stay at home during the freezing conditions.
The company said it would take until January 2011 to see what the effects of a spell of unusually cold weather would be.
Julian Pitts, a partner in the Leeds office of the company, said: "The hospitality sector has seen falling revenues and rising prices over the past few years, and with business borrowing difficult to secure in the sector, the missing revenues will be the final straw for some hospitality businesses."
Pitts added: "It will be January before the real cost is counted and the knock-on effects are felt, when supplier payments and payroll are due in what is the quietest trading month of the year for many."
Despite that, Begbies Traynor itself issued a profits warning earlier this month, after fewer businesses than it had predicted went bust. "There's been a milder economic winter than everyone predicted and therefore fewer corporate deaths," executive chairman Ric Traynor told The Telegraph.
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