• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Wetherspoons expecting losses of around £30 million for the year

The pub chain has had to grapple with soaring costs and significant recruitment difficulties.

Jack Peat by Jack Peat
2022-07-13 09:29
in News
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

Pub chain JD Wetherspoon has warned over annual losses after hiking staff wages and ramping up spending on repairs and marketing amid a slow recovery in bar trade.

The group said it is now expecting losses of around £30 million for the year to the end of July after investing to attract and retain workers and on the wider business.

Wetherspoon – which has more than 800 pubs across the UK and Ireland – had previously said in May that it expected to break even over the full year, having cheered a return to profit in March.

The profit alert sent shares in the group falling sharply, down more than 5 per cent in morning trading on Wednesday.

Soaring costs

It comes as the group said the recovery for many pub firms had been “slower and more laborious” than expected, while the sector is also grappling with soaring costs and a pull-back in consumer spending due to rising inflation.

Wetherspoon’s latest trading update showed that like-for-like sales in the first 11 weeks of its fourth quarter to July 31 were 0.4 per cent below the same pre-pandemic period in 2019 – an improvement on the previous quarter, when they fell 4 per cent.

Sales of draught ales, lagers and ciders – previously the biggest driver of pub trade – were 8 per cent below 2019 levels, it revealed.

RelatedPosts

Shocking pictures show Italy’s Lake Garda at near-historic low

Water companies have handed out £1 BILLION in dividends in past year

Brits are panic buying again – this time it’s bottled water

As Post Office and BT workers to strike it’s worth watching this Mick Lynch and Eddie Dempsey interview

“Many people predicted a boom in pub sales when lockdowns and restrictions ended due to pent-up demand, but recovery for many companies has been slower and more laborious than was anticipated,” the group said.

Increased wages

Wetherspoon said staff costs were far higher than before the pandemic, with firms across the sector having to increase wages to overcome recruitment difficulties.

It added that it is now “with minor exceptions, fully staffed”.

Repair costs have also soared, with the group saying it will have spent about £99 million on this in the current year, compared with £76.9 million in 2018-19, due to “catch-up” work since Covid restrictions lifted.

Chairman Tim Martin said: “Wetherspoon has tried to take a long-term approach to these issues, investing heavily in the workforce, in buildings, in marketing and in contracts with landlords and suppliers, which will hopefully create a solid base for future growth. The company remains cautiously optimistic about future prospects.”

Matt Britzman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “It looks like the older demographic’s still cautious to get out and about and that comes through in the numbers.

“Lagers and ales were replaced by spirits and cocktails as sales in lively city locations, with music on the weekends, performed much better than quieter, suburban, pubs.

“The difficulty now, for the entire pub sector, is that drinking and eating at home looks to be sticking around longer than first thought.

“That trend’s likely to continue, as the cost-of-living crisis looks poised to accelerate the tightening of purse strings.”

Related: The race to No 10: Who cleared the first hurdle?

Tags: Tim MartinWetherspoons

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending
Abdollah

‘Rescue us’: Afghan teacher begs UK to help him escape Taliban

CHOMSKY: “If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

More from TLE

Jim Davidson walks out of interview with Ashley Banjo

Watch: Ukrainian girl ‘radiated light’ moving stars to tears singing from Kyiv bunker

First two UK cases of new Covid variant discovered

Dad has been left paralysed after falling downstairs while sleepwalking

Akon moves ahead with Black Panther-style city he described as “real-life Wakanda”

Katie Hopkins is broke after losing libel case brought by Jack Monroe

May formally resigns as Tory leader

The Souvenir: To look at and remember

Warning of financial pressure on Councils who need ‘to lead their communities out of this crisis’

Former boxing champion hung out of car during attempted East London acid carjacking

JOBS

FIND MORE JOBS

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.