J D Wetherspoon plc (LON:JDW) have today announced preliminary results for the 26 weeks ended 28 January 2024.
| FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS | Var % | |
| Before separately disclosed items | ||
| Like-for-like sales (vs FY23) | +9.9% | |
| Revenue £991.0m (2023: £916.0m) | +8.2% | |
| Profit before tax £36.0m (2023: £4.6m) | +682.6% | |
| Operating profit £67.7m (2023: £37.4m) | +81.0% | |
| Basic earnings per share 20.3p (2023: 1.0p) | +1930% | |
| Free cash outflow per share (4.8)p (2023: inflow 132.4p) | -103.6% | |
| Half year dividend 0.0p (2023: 0.0p) | – | |
| After separately disclosed items1 | ||
| Profit before tax £26.1m (2023: £57.0m) | -54.2% | |
| Operating profit £72.0m (2023: £37.4m) | +92.5% | |
| Basic earnings per share 15.2p (2023: 29.4p) | -48.3% | |
Commenting on the results, Tim Martin, the Chairman of J D Wetherspoon plc, said:
“Sales continue to improve. In the last 7 weeks, to 17 March 2024, like-for-like sales increased by 5.8%.
“The company continues to be concerned about the possibility of further lockdowns and about the efficacy of the government enquiry into the pandemic, which will not be concluded for several years.
“In contrast, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported on its findings in 2022.
“Professor Francois Balloux, director of the UCL Genetics Institute, writing in The Guardian, and Professor Robert Dingwall, of Trent University, writing in the Telegraph, provide useful synopses of the WHO report:
(see pages 54-56 of Wetherspoon News 2022 on its website)
“The conclusion of Professor Balloux, broadly echoed by Professor Dingwall, based on an analysis by the World Health Organisation of the pandemic, is that Sweden (which did not lock down), had a Covid-19 fatality rate “of about half the UK’s” and that “the worst performer, by some margin, is Peru, despite enforcing the harshest, longest lockdown.”
“Professor Balloux concludes that “the strength of mitigation measures does not seem to be a particularly strong indicator of excess deaths.”
“The company currently anticipates a reasonable outcome for the financial year, subject to our future sales performance.”
