Wetherspoon feels inflationary pressures

Managed pub operator JD Wetherspoon has conceded it is suffering from rampant inflation despite posting resilient sales for the past three months.

The company said it expected a considerable increase in costs, especially in energy, food, labour and tax, would hamper its business over the coming year but remained confident sales would remain resilient.

For the 11 weeks to 13 July Wetherspoon posted a like-for-like sales increase of 0.4%. It expects to finish its current financial year on the 27 July with a combined sales fall of 1%.

Wetherspoon said that a significant proportion of its cost increases in the past year had come from government legislation, especially from excise duty and labour cost increases.

However, it believed it could increase its actual sales on the back of marketing activities in the coming year.

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By Christopher Walton

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