Shares in focus: The pub chain that’s bucking the trend

JD Wetherspoon has been growing fast. Can it keep going, and should you buy in? Phil Oakley investigates.

JD Wetherspoon has been growing fast, but can it keep on going, wonders Phil Oakley.

Tim Martin studied law at university and qualified as a barrister, but he soon decided that pubs and beer were more interesting. So in 1979 he bought a pub in Muswell Hill, north London, that became the first one in his JD Wetherspoon empire.

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Phil spent 13 years as an investment analyst for both stockbroking and fund management companies.

 

After graduating with a MSc in International Banking, Economics & Finance from Liverpool Business School in 1996, Phil went to work for BWD Rensburg, a Liverpool based investment manager. In 2001, he joined ABN AMRO as a transport analyst. After a brief spell as a food retail analyst, he spent five years with ABN's very successful UK Smaller Companies team where he covered engineering, transport and support services stocks.

 

In 2007, Phil joined Halbis Capital Management as a European equities analyst. He began writing for MoneyWeek in 2010.