9th Sep 2016 06:25
LONDON (Alliance News) - JD Wetherspoon PLC on Friday reported growth in profit in its recently-ended financial year, and said sales have continued to be encouraging since the year-end.
The pub chain said its pretax profit in the year ended July 24 grew to GBP66.0 million from GBP58.7 million the year before, as revenue rose to GBP1.60 billion from GBP1.51 billion.
Revenue growth was boosted by an increase in like-for-like sales of 3.4%, with sales up in both food and drink. Operating margin, however, decreased again, to 6.9% from 7.4% as a result of staff pay rises.
Despite the good results, Wetherspoon left its dividend unchanged at 12 pence per share.
"Since the year end, Wetherspoon's sales have continued to be encouraging and increased by 4.1%. Despite this positive start, it remains to be seen whether this will continue over the remainder of the year, given the strong like-for-like sales in the last financial year and what remains a very low-inflation environment," Chairman Tim Martin said in a statement full of comments by the prominent Brexiteer about the UK's European Union referendum.
"We currently anticipate a slightly improved trading outcome for the current financial year, compared with our expectations at the pre-close stage," he added.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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