.

Not sure knocking a penny off a pint helps them much, but nice bounce so far today.

Wetherspoons have just exchanged contracts on the White Hart Downham Market and I look forward to participating in a beverage or two along with a curry on Thursday evenings!

Don't forget 2p off a pint of cider CC. Should keep the teenagers happy!

True Harry LOL!

My local pub is like a petrol company - they pass on the rises straight away, but any reductions.......

Still watching, maybe should have gone short. When or if it decides to bounce plenty of scope to ride it back up.

Interim Management Statement

Current trading

For the 13 weeks to 26 April 2015, like-for-like sales increased by 1.7%, and total sales increased by 5.8%. In the year to date (39 weeks to 26 April 2015), like-for-like sales increased by 3.6% and total sales increased by 7.9%.

The operating margin in the 13 weeks to 26 April 2015 was 7.5%, compared with 8.0% in the same period last year. At this stage we expect the full-year margin to be in the region of 7.3% to 7.7%.


Property

The Company has opened 20 new pubs and disposed of 4 since the start of the financial year. We have 12 pubs under development and, in line with our last update, intend to open around 30 pubs in the current financial year. It is our present intention to open a similar number of pubs in the following financial year.


Financial position

The company has bought back 1,621,163 shares, at a total cost of £12.5 million, since the start of the financial year.

There have been no other significant changes in the Company's overall financial position since the publication of the interim accounts on 13 March 2015.


Outlook

The Late Night Levy, combined with higher business rates per pint and a huge VAT disparity, mean that pubs continue to trade at a great disadvantage to supermarkets.

As previously stated, the second half of the last financial year was strong, which will make it difficult to improve on that performance in the current year. Our expectations for this full financial year remain unchanged.

For the next financial year, there are a number of factors which are likely to influence our trading performance, although they are difficult to quantify at this stage. Positive aspects include an increase in our pub numbers, stable utility prices and slightly lower interest rates. Other trends include increased competition from supermarkets and restaurant groups, together with additional staff and repair costs. We will provide updates, when appropriate, on these, as next year progresses.

PRE-CLOSE STATEMENT

StockMarketWire.com
Pub group JD Wetherspoon's like-for-like sales increased by 2.4% and total sales increased by 6.1 in the 13 weeks to 25 October.

The group says sales have been slightly higher in the last 6 weeks, which has coincided with the Rugby World Cup.

The operating margin in the 13 weeks to 25 October was 6.2%, compared with 7.7% in the same 13 weeks last year. The lower margin was due to increases in the starting rates for hourly paid staff in October 2014 and August 2015, which totalled approximately 13%.

The company has opened 3 new pubs since the start of the financial year and has sold 1. It intends to open approximately 15 pubs in the current financial year.

It adds: "Following a review of our pubs, as previously reported, the company offered 20 leasehold pubs for sale and is now considering a small number of freehold disposals in the course of the financial year."

Peel Hunt cuts JD Wetherspoon to sell from hold, target cut from 711p to 700p.

along with other companies, JDW doesn't like paying "living wage" ...... hard cheese! i thoroughly concur with the argument that it should not be for the taxpayer to subsidise what are effectively underpaid employees

JD Wetherspoon said like-for-like sales improved in the first 12 weeks of the second quarter but that operating margins would be 1.1% lower than the same period last year due to increased labour costs. "Our current view is profits for this year are likely to be towards the lower end of analysts' expectations," said chairman Tim Martin.

The local JDW I use you never see the same staff the staff turnover is incredible.

INTERIM RESULTS

(For the 26 weeks ended 24 January 2016)


FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

Before exceptional items:

Revenue £790.3m (2015: £744.4m) +6.2%

Like-for-like sales +2.9%

Operating profit £49.4m (2015: £55.4m) -10.8%

Profit before tax £36.0m (2015: £37.5m)
Underlying earnings per share before a property gain and the benefits of a deferred tax credit 19.1p (2015: 22.9p)
-3.9%
-16.6%
Interim dividend 4.0p (2015: 4.0p)
Maintained

After exceptional items


Profit before tax £36.6m (2015: £37.5m) -2.2%

It's ages since I've been in a Spoons but called in at the Rocket on Tuesday near Fulham, and we were very surprised to hear that it is up for sale, it's right on the river and tables were reserved for the evening session (and that's in the winter) must be heaving in the summer.

I know that they are off loading duplicate sites but would have thought this one to be a prime site and gold mine.

Do you know it Skinny or anyone else?

Not been there, but must admit that the inside looks nicer than the outside from their website. Might be that the running costs (rates etc) are too high to justify keeping it. The Railway just down the road is a JDW and looks nicer, imo.

We did note the Railway (but did not go inside) but after going inside the Rocket and taking note of the site frankly we were and still are gobsmacked at it being up for sale.

As you say running costs and rates may be to high, I wonder if the Youngs pub at Blackfriars is also up for sale as well as that has a similar appeal, I'll have a dig around.

One thing I did think is the possible future flood risk, with Spoons selling at the top of the market to capitalise as well.

StockMarketWire.com
JD Wetherspoon's like-for-like sales increased by 4.0% and total sales increased by 3.8% in the 11 weeks to 10 July.

In the year to date (50 weeks to 10 July) like-for-like sales increased by 3.4% and total sales increased by 5.5%.

The full-year operating margin before exceptional items and before a £3.8m gain on property is expected to be around 6.8%, compared to 7.4% last year.

The company has opened 13 new pubs since the start of the financial year, has sold 29 and has closed 11. It expects to open 16 new pubs in this financial year. There will be around £13m of exceptional, non-cash losses in this financial year, which are mainly associated with pub disposals and closures.

The company remains in a sound financial position. Net debt at the end of this financial year is currently expected to be around £670m.

The company has bought back 5.7m shares, at a total cost of £39m, since the start of the financial year.

Chairman Tim Martin, said: "As most people will be aware, an unusual number of forecasts for the UK economy have been made in the run-up to, and the aftermath of, the referendum. Most of the forecasts from representatives of institutions which are normally responsible for financial stability were extremely negative.

"For example, the International Monetary Fund`s Christine Lagarde said in May that a leave vote in the referendum would be "pretty bad to very, very bad."

"An IMF report additionally said that a leave vote would have a 'negative and substantial effect'.

"Similar comments were made by the Bank of England Governor Mark Carney. HM Treasury also warned that Brexit would cost the average household about £4,000 per annum in the future. The CBI, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, PWC and many FTSE 100 CEOs, among others, supported this negative view.

"The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne repeatedly warned that mortgage and interest rates were likely to rise in the event of a leave vote and threatened an emergency budget to increase taxes and to reduce public expenditure.

"Osborne`s stance was supported by Prime Minister David Cameron, who also forecast an increased likelihood of war and genocide.

"Unbeknown to most voters, one of the 'architects' of the Remain campaign, which devised the above approach, was Peter Mandelson ('How the struggle for Europe was lost', Peter Mandelson, Financial Times, 2 July), who worked closely with Cameron, Osborne and others

"In my opinion, the above individuals and organisations are either dishonest, or they have a poor understanding of economics, since democracy and prosperity are closely linked and the EU is clearly undemocratic. By voting to restore democracy in the UK, I believe the UK's economic prospects will improve, although it is quite possible that the unprecedented and irresponsible doom-mongering, outlined above, may lead to some kind of slowdown.

"In spite of the dire warnings above, Wetherspoon trade strengthened slightly in recent weeks and we consequently anticipate a modestly improved outcome for this financial year. Caution should be exercised in extrapolating current levels of sales growth for future years."

StockMarketWire.com
Pub group JD Wetherspoon reports record sales, profit and earnings per share before exceptional items for the year to 24 July.

Like-for-like sales increased by 3.4% (2015: 3.3%), with total sales of £1,595.2m, an increase of 5.4% (2015: 7.4%). Like-for-like bar sales increased by 3.3% (2015: 1.2%), food sales by 3.5% (2015: 7.3%) and slot/fruit machine sales decreased by 2.2% (2015: decreased by 2.8%). Like-for-like room sales at our hotels increased by 9.7% (2015: 24.2%) - although hotel sales form less than 1% of total sales. Operating profit before exceptional items decreased by 2.5% to £109.7m (2015: £112.5m). The operating margin, before exceptional items, decreased to 6.9% (2015: 7.4%), as a result mainly of increases in staff costs, utilities and depreciation. Profit before tax and exceptional items increased by 3.6% to £80.6m (2015: £77.8m), with a contribution from property profits of £5.3m (2015: £0.7m loss). Earnings per share (including shares held in trust by the employee share scheme), before exceptional items, were 48.3p (2015: 47.0p). Net interest was covered 3.3 times by operating profit before exceptional items (2015: 3.3 times).

Total capital investment was £124.8m in the period (2015: £173.3m), with £55.2m invested in new pubs and extensions to existing pubs (2015: £106.3m). I

n addition, there was expenditure of £33.5m on existing pubs and IT infrastructure (2015: £44.8m) and £36.1m on the acquisition of freeholds where Wetherspoon was already a tenant (2015: £21.6m). Exceptional items totalled £5.7m (2015: £12.6m). The company incurred charges as a result of a number of pub disposals and closures. There was an £8.5m loss on disposal and an impairment charge of £3.9m for closed sites.

A further impairment charge of £2.2m was incurred in respect of underperforming pubs, redundant computer software and onerous leases. In addition there were £8.9m of exceptional tax credits, as a result of a reduction in the UK average corporation tax rate, which has the effect of creating an exceptional tax credit for future years.

The total cash effect of these exceptional items resulted in cash inflow of £14.0m, which reflected the proceeds from the pub disposals. Free cash flow, after capital investment of £33.5m on existing pubs (2015: £44.8m), £6.9m in respect of share purchases for employees (2015: £6.8m) and payments of tax and interest, decreased by £19.3m to £90.5m (2015: £109.8m).

The decrease resulted from a working capital outflow of £9.6m in the year compared with an inflow of £27.3m in 2015. Free cash flow per share was 76.7p (2015: 89.8p).

Chairman Tim Martin said: "I am pleased to report a year of progress for the company, with record sales, profit and earnings per share before exceptional items.

"The government is actively considering ideas for generating jobs and economic activity, especially in areas outside the affluent south of the country - VAT equality, as the trade organisations BBPA and ALMR have demonstrated, is a very efficient and sensible method of helping to achieve these objectives.

"Tax equality also accords with the underlying principle of fairness in applying taxes to different businesses.

"In the run up to, and the aftermath of, the recent referendum, the overwhelming majority of FTSE 100 companies, the employers' organisation CBI, the IMF, the OECD, the Treasury, the leaders of all the main political parties and almost all representatives of British universities forecast trouble, often in lurid terms, for the economy, in the event of the Leave vote.

"For example, claims were made by David Cameron and George Osborne that family income would eventually be reduced by £4,000 per annum, that mortgage interest rates would increase and that house prices would fall - claims which were supported, in terms, by Mark Carney of the Bank of England.

"City voices such as PwC and Goldman Sachs, and the great preponderance of banks and other institutions, also leant weight to this negative view. For example, Paul Johnson of the Institute of Fiscal Studies (The Times 28 June) stated that there was 'near-unanimity' among economists in favour of Remain.

"Rather amazingly, he added: 'I take as given that we economists were collectively right about the (bad) economic consequences of leaving the EU.' Johnson then cites this consensus as evidence for the economic truth of the Remain case.

"This is a strange argument to advance since consensus forecasts from economists, who generally failed to forecast the last recession or the catastrophic flaws of the euro, are almost always delusional.

"As Warren Buffett has said, forecasts tell you a lot about the forecaster, but not about the future. Economic forecasts from over-confident pundits such as Mr Johnson are an important component of Benjamin Graham's 'Mr Market', the mythical punter who gets everything wrong.

"Just as the combined intellectual weight of the 'good and great' could not see through the flaws in the euro, they have, with honourable exceptions, been unable to see that the principle flaw of the EU - an absence of democracy - will almost certainly lead to further economic and political chaos, and to more dire consequences for those who are subject to EU decisions.

"The overwhelming economic evidence is that successful countries are democracies - Mr Johnson and like-minded economists really do need to stick that point in their pipes and smoke it. For all their faults, democracies produce the greatest level of prosperity and freedom. As in the case of the euro, the general public has a much better perception about this overriding factor than the consensus of intellectual opinion. I have written an article on this general subject for Wetherspoon News.

"Now that the gloomy economic forecasts for the immediate aftermath of the referendum have been proven to be false, 'Scare Story 2' is that failure to agree on trade deal with the EU will have devastating consequences. This was articulated by fund manager Nicola Horlick this week, who told Radio 4 listeners that leaving the Single Market would relegate the UK from the 5th-biggest economy in the world to the 8th or 9th.

"In contrast, Wetherspoon's experience indicates that reaching formal trade deals with reluctant counterparties is impossible - and it is unwise to try. "For example, I personally agreed on terms with one of our biggest suppliers, a major PLC, for a new seven-year contract about 12 years ago. Although the deal was put in the hands of lawyers, it was never signed or 'ratified' during this time, although we traded successfully for the anticipated duration.

"We subsequently agreed on a deal for a further seven years - and that has not been signed to this day. Indeed, we have traded without interruption with this company for 37 years. In contrast, deals with some suppliers have been rapidly embodied in formal contracts. Over the years, we have agreed on thousands of 'trade deals' with big and small suppliers: some are formal contracts, some are 'hand-shakes', some are short term, but many last for decades. The commercial reality is that you can lead the horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

"This is especially true of the EU - an organisation of Byzantine complexity, run by five unelected presidents, with input from numerous other parts of the many-headed Hydra. It has struggled to reach trade deals with most of the world's major economies, for example, the USA, China and India.

"The UK is an enormous trading partner of the USA, generating a substantial surplus for us, in spite of the absence of a 'deal' and it would be unwise to clamour after a specific formal agreement to replace existing arrangements in these circumstances - the back of the queue is a good place to be.

"Former Chancellor Nigel Lawson (Financial Times, 3/4 September) and many others advocate leaving the EU and trading afterwards with it on the basis of World Trade Organisation rules. If the EU is keen for a trade deal, we should cooperate, but unelected apparatchiks like President Juncker can't be controlled - which is one of the main reasons we voted to leave. "Common sense & suggests that the worst approach for the UK is to insist on the necessity of a 'deal' - we don't need one and the fact that EU countries sell us twice as much as we sell them creates a hugely powerful negotiating position.

"If WTO tariffs apply, the UK will receive twice as much as it pays. Boris Johnson, David Davis and Liam Fox will achieve far more for the UK by copying Francis Drake and playing bowls in Plymouth, rather than hankering after an EU agreement, although time spent in improving arrangements with Singapore, New Zealand and India, for example, may be well spent.

"Since the year end, Wetherspoon's sales have continued to be encouraging and increased by 4.1%. Despite this positive start, it remains to be seen whether this will continue over the remainder of the year, given the strong like-for-like sales in the last financial year and what remains a very low-inflation environment.

"We will provide updates as we progress through the year, but we currently anticipate a slightly improved trading outcome for the current financial year, compared with our expectations at the pre-close stage."

StockMarketWire.com
JD Wetherspoon's like-for-like sales for the 13 weeks to 23 October increased by 3.5% and total sales increased by 2.3%.

The level of like-for-like sales reduced to 2.3% in the last five weeks of the period. The operating margin, excluding property gains, in the 13 weeks to 23 October was 8.6%, compared with 5.8% in the corresponding 13 weeks last year. The margin was unusually high during the period and was unusually low for the same three months last year. The company currently anticipates an operating margin of around 7% for the current financial year.

The Company has opened one new pub since the start of the financial year and has sold nine. It intends to open about 15 pubs in the current financial year. The company says it remains in a sound financial position.