J D Wetherspoon plc (LON:JDW) has published a pre-close trading update. The preliminary results are due to be released on 2 October 2026.
Current Trading
Like-for-like sales increased by 4.0% in the 12 weeks to 19 July 2025, compared to the same period last year. Year-to-date like-for-like sales increased by 4.2%.
Property
In the year to date, the company has opened eight pubs and sold nine.
The company currently operates 793 managed pubs.
In addition, 15 franchised pubs have opened in the year-to-date, bringing the total to 23.
Financial Position
In the year to date, the company has purchased 6,402,368 of its own shares for cancellation at an average price of £6.52 a share.
In addition, the company has purchased the freehold reversions of four pubs for a total of £12.2 million, bringing the expenditure on freehold reversions since 2011 to £489 million.
We currently anticipate year-end net debt to be £720 million, in line with the end of the last financial year.
Outlook
The chairman of Wetherspoon, Tim Martin, said:
“Profits for the year are likely to be below market expectations, with marginally lower sales than anticipated in the final quarter, combined with higher costs in the areas of food, labour, repairs, energy and business rates.”
