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.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

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