22nd Jan 2014 07:48
LONDON (Alliance News) - British pub chain JD Wetherspoon PLC Wednesday said that total sales and like-for-like sales are both up in its most recent trading quarter, and in the year to date.
The UK-based pub owner and operator still says its targeting a reasonable outcome for the current financial year ending July 27, despite tax and cost pressure, and assuming reasonable sales growth.
JD Wetherspoon said that total sales were up 10.6%, for the 12-week period to January 19, with like-for-like sales up 6.7%.
In the year to date, which is the 25 weeks to January 19, JD Wetherspoon said that total sales increased by 9%, and like-for-like sales increased by 5.2%.
As it previously had warned, JD Wetherspoon said that it expects its operating margin for the half year ending January 26, to be slightly lower than the same period last year, due to increased investment across the business, in areas such as labour and IT, in preparation for a bigger pub estate in the future. The group said it is hoping these expenditures will pay off in the future, by boosting the group's trading performance.
The company said it estimates an operating margin, before any exceptional items, to be around 8.1% in the first-half, and in the region of 8.1% to 8.3% for the current financial year.
"We now anticipate a slightly higher corporation tax rate for this financial year, at around 27%, due to higher-than-expected non-qualifying capital expenditure," the company said in a statement.
JD Wetherspon still expects to open between 40 to 50 pubs in total this financial year, having already opened 18 new pubs so far this financial year, and 11 sites currently under development.
During the 12 week period, JD Wetherspoon said it bought back 411,000 shares for cancellation, at a total cost of GBP2.9 million, at an average price of GBP6.98 per share.
The group said it intends to release its interim results on March 14.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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