Wetherspoon nears pre-pandemic sales but rising costs bite

Sales across the UK and Ireland for the last three weeks was just 2.6% below pre pandemic levels

Wetherspoon said it expects the increase in costs to be slightly less than the level of inflation.

Pub group JD Wetherspoon's sales are inching closer to pre-pandemic levels after riding out the Omicron virus wave but the group is facing higher costs from food, drink and energy suppliers.

Sales have rebounded following the removal of all pandemic-related curbs, with trade across Wetherspoon's 800 pubs in the UK and Ireland for the last three weeks falling just 2.6% below the same period in 2019.

Still, a global spike in Covid-19 cases and mounting inflation - which in Britain is hovering around 30-year highs - pose threats to the pub and restaurant industries.

"Draconian restrictions, which amount to a lockdown-by-stealth, are, of course, kryptonite for hospitality, travel, leisure and many other businesses," Wetherspoon Chairman Tim Martin, who has been an outspoken critic of the British government's handling of the health crisis, said in a statement.

"The company is confident of a strong future if restrictions are avoided," Martin added.

Wetherspoon reported a loss of £21.3m (€25.4m) in the six months to January 23, compared with a profit of £57.9m (€69m) in the same period a year earlier.

"Despite high hopes that punters would once again be elbowing each other to get to the bar, the glass is very much half-empty for the company, with pre-Covid levels of profits remaining elusive," Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter said.

Wetherspoon said it expects the increase in costs to be slightly less than the level of inflation, adding a number of long-term contracts was helping it mitigate the cost pressures from suppliers.

Reuters