11th Sep 2015 06:20
LONDON (Alliance News) - JD Wetherspoon PLC Friday reported a drop in pretax profit in its recently-ended financial year, despite growth in revenue, as it took a hit to its profit margin due to higher staff and utilities costs.
The pub company reported a 2% fall in pretax profit in the year ended July 26 to GBP77.8 million from GBP79.4 million the year before, although revenue rose 7.4% to GBP1.51 billion from GBP1.41 billion.
Operating margin before exceptional items decreased to 7.4% from 8.3% which Wetherspoons said was due to lower gross margin and increases in staff costs, utilities and depreciation, which put pressure on profit.
Wetherspoons will pay a total dividend of 12.0 pence, which is flat year-on-year.
Wetherspoons added that in the six weeks to September 6, like-for-like sales increased 1.4% while total sales grew 5.2%.
"As previously stated on July 15, a number of factors likely to influence our trading performance this financial year are difficult to quantify at this early stage. Positive aspects include an increase in pub numbers, a better economy and slightly lower interest rates; less favourable aspects include heightened competition from supermarkets and restaurant groups and increased staff, repairs, bar and food costs. We continue to anticipate a trading performance similar to, or slightly above, that achieved in the last financial year," Chairman Tim Martin said in a statement.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Wetherspoon (J.D)