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JD Wetherspoon PLC on Friday said revenue rose in its recent financial year, as it swung to a profit after posting a loss in the previous three years. The Watford, Hertfordshire-based pub and hotel chain swung to a pretax profit before separately disclosed items of £42.6 million in the financial year that ended July 31 from a loss of £30.4 million the year before. Total pretax profit was £90.5 million, up from a £26.3 million profit the year before. The difference between the two measures in both years was mostly finance income, partially offset by property losses. Revenue increased 11% to £1.93 billion from £1.74 billion the year prior. They were up 13% on a like-for-like basis. Against the pre-Covid comparison year of 2019, sales were up 7.4%. They had still been down by 4.7% in 2022. Wetherspoon declared no dividend for the year, unchanged from financial 2022. The company opened 3 pubs during the year, but closed or terminated the leases of 31 pubs. It had 826 pubs at the year-end, down from 852 at the end of financial 2022. The number of Wetherspoon pubs peaked at 951 in 2015. Looking forward, Wetherspoon said it is performing well, having seen like-for-like sales rise 9.9% in the first nine weeks of the financial year, compared with a year ago. The firm said the biggest threat to hospitality is the possibility of further Covid-19 restrictions. Chair Tim Martin said: ‘The company currently anticipates a reasonable outcome for the financial year, subject to our future sales performance.’ JD Wetherspoon shares rose 0.7% to 701.50 each on Friday in London. Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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