JD Wetherspoon has reported a sales increase despite soaring costs as the nice weather helped sales.
The pub group has 795 pubs across the UK and in the 13 weeks to 27 April, JD Wetherspoon reported like-for-like sales was up by 5.6%.
JD Wetherspoon had previously warned that due to the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves Autumn Budget they will see an enormous increase in costs from April amid the minimum wage and employers national insurance rises.
Chairman Tim Martin said. “Bearing in mind that recent trading has been helped by favourable weather, the company anticipates a reasonable outcome for the financial year, notwithstanding previously reported wage and tax increases of approximately £1.2 million per week.”
Robinhood UK lead analyst Dan Lane said,“An uncommon restraint from Tim Martin this morning but the £1.2m hike in wages and tax still got a mention and clearly weigh heavily on the boss.
“Sales are in a good place and there is a clear focus on getting the pub count up but also making sure these are quality sites that the UK public wants to go to. Slowly does it though, as the property footprint still sits slightly below the 800 mark, against the 1,000 the group has previously targeted.
“Debt is still high but the market has shrugged that off over the past month, pushing shares higher even as US tariffs have taken centre stage. The reality is that Spoons is unlikely to fall foul of any US exporting taxes and serves a domestic customer base that has kept its interest despite inflationary pressures.
“No news of price hikes today and Martin will be hoping to weather any further uptick in inflation before he’s forced to erode the chain’s main selling point with a lift to the price of a pint.
“If the Bank of England drops interest rates tomorrow, we might see even more attention paid to businesses like this, naturally shielded from tariff headlines and already reinvesting in themselves for the long term.”
