Wetherspoon LFL sales rise 5.1% in H1
The pub group is bracing for debt levels to be in the range of £680m and £700m, compared with £660m in the year prior
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Wetherspoon has reported that like-for-like sales rose 5.1% over the 25-week period to 19 January 2025, due to a 4.5% uplift in bar sales, 5.6% rise in food sales, and a 11.7% sales jump in gambling machines.
The pub group also benefited from a 6.1% uplift in like-for-like sales for the main Christmas period from 16 December to 5 January.
However, the group’s hotel room sales fell by 6.5% compared with the same period last year.
Like-for-like sales for the second quarter of the financial year were 4.6% higher than the same period a year ago.
The group has also revealed that total sales have grown by 4% in the year to date, which has been slightly less than like-for-like sales due to the disposal of six pubs.
Wetherspoon expects interest costs for FY25, excluding IFRS16 notional interest, to be around £47m – which will be £6m less than in 2024.
Meanwhile, the pub group is bracing for debt levels to be in the range of £680m and £700m, compared with £660m in the year prior.
It comes as, from 1 April 2025 labour-related costs at Wetherspoon will rise by £60m per year, as chairman Tim Martin stated government-mandated wage increases have had “a bigger impact on pub and restaurant groups than supermarkets”.
Tim Martin said: “As previously highlighted, supermarkets pay no VAT in respect of food sales, whereas pubs pay 20%. This tax advantage allows supermarkets to subsidise the price of beer they sell. A direct consequence is that beer volumes in the on-trade have decreased by an incredible 52% between 2000 and 2023.
“It is a clear principle of taxation that taxes should be fair and equitable, as between different types of companies. The VAT distortions that exist today will inevitably create more supermarkets and less pubs.”
He added: “Given the public’s love of pubs, the only possible explanation for this tax discrepancy is that prime ministers and other legislators, in the 45 years since Wetherspoon started trading, have been dinner party goers, rather than pub goers. Food at dinner parties is VAT-free.”
As a result, Wetherspoon is calling upon Sir Kier Starmer to redress this imbalance ahead of April.
