JD Wetherspoon predicts record sales this year

Pub group JD Wetherspoon has predicted record sales for its current financial year following its highest-ever Easter sales.

In its third quarter trading update, the business reported the May bank holiday was also “exceptionally strong, including our busiest-ever Saturday”, although the Coronation weekend was “slightly less strong, with a noticeably quiet Saturday”.

The company’s like-for-like sales increased by 9.1% in the 13 weeks to 30 April 2023, compared to 2019, while year-to-date sales increased by 6.4% compared to the same year. Compared to 2022, like-for-like sales increased by 12.2% in the third quarter and by 12.7% year-to-date.

30 of its trading pubs remain on the market, or are under offer, of its 834-strong estate.

As at 30 April 2023, net debt was £738m, approximately £67m lower than reported in Wetherspoon’s interim results for the 2020 financial year, immediately before the pandemic. Since then, the company has invested £185m in new pubs and freehold reversions and has raised equity of approximately £240m.

JD Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said: “Lockdowns and associated restrictions have had more profound and longer-lasting consequences than most economists, politicians and commentators predicted.

“Sales in the last quarter have continued their positive momentum, although inflation, especially in labour, energy and food costs, remains a more intractable issue.

“In order to bear down on inflation, political parties should encourage free enterprise, rather than a reliance on additional regulations. A lack of understanding, among some senior politicians, about the need to encourage a successful free market economy, presents a real threat to the future prosperity of the country.

“The company expects profits in the current financial year to be towards the top of market expectations.”

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