Wetherspoon chief exec offloads shares

John Hutson, chief executive of the pub group JD Wetherspoon, has nearly halved his stake in the pub group, walking away with more than £200,000.

He sold 50,000 shares at about 433.1p a time and now has just less than 55,500.

Separately, Hutson exercised options over about 73,000 shares, paying between 301.5p and 356.5p a time for the shares and selling them at 433.1p.

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Hutson's dealings came on the day Wetherspoon said like-for-like sales in the 50 weeks to July increased 1.2% and added that it was "optimistic" about its prospects for the new year.

In the 11 weeks to 12th July 2009, like-for-like sales decreased slightly by 0.8%. Total company sales over the same period increased by 3.1%.

The firm benefited from reduced energy, labour and marketing costs and said that it anticipates operating margins before exceptionals of at least 10% for the second half of the financial year, ahead of expectations.

"As a result of the performance of our pubs, and the full year effect of pubs opened this year, combined with lower costs in areas such as utilities, the board is optimistic about prospects for the next financial year," the firm said.

Hutson has been with JD Wetherspoon since 1991 and was appointed to the board in 1996. He became chief executive in 2004.

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