Wetherspoons returns to profit as like-for-like sales increase by 13%

JD Wetherspoon has reported profit before tax of £42.6m having seen like-for-like sales rise 12.7% in the 12 months to July 2023.

During the period the pub group opened three pubs and sold, closed or terminated the leases of 31, reducing its estate to 826 sites.

Wetherspoon also confirmed it was in a contractual dispute with an unnamed large supplier, widely reported as AB InBev, which it said would be resolved by a legal process.

Total sales for the year to July 2023 were up 11% at £1.9b. Like-for-like sales were up 12.7% compared to 2022 with food sales growing by 17.7% and hotel rooms by 11.8%.

Wetherspoon reported that underlying profit was up from £25.7m to £107.1m, profit before tax hitting £42m compared to a loss of £30m in 2022.

Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said: "Wetherspoon continues to perform well. In the first nine weeks of the current financial year, to 1 October 2023, like-for-like sales increased by 9.9%, compared with the nine weeks to 2 October 2022.

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