Wetherspoon off to fast start

Pubs group JD Wetherspoon's new financial year has got off to a flying start, helped by a strong performance during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

In the six weeks to 9th September 2012, like-for-like sales increased by 8.4%, with total sales increasing by 12.8%.

For the 53 weeks to July 29th, the group boasted of record sales, profit and earnings per share before exceptional items.

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Full-year revenue was up 11.7% to £1,197.1m from £1,072.0m the year before, which was a 52-week year. Sales would have been up 9.3% even without the extra week and were up 3.2% on a like-for-like basis.

Profit before tax and exceptional items rose 8.4% (+5.8% stripping out the extra week) to £72.4m from £66.8m in the previous year.

Adjusted earnings per share rose 17.0% (52 weeks basis: +14.4%) to 41.3p from 35.3p a year earlier. The full-year dividend has been held at 12p.

The market had pencilled in £1.23bn for sales and pre-tax profit of £71.2m. Earnings per share were tipped to advance to 41.6p while the dividend was seen climbing to 12.95p.

JH