JD Wetherspoon has reported like-for-like sales increased 4.7% for the 12 weeks to 19 January 2019, with total sales up 4.2%. In the year to date – for the 25 weeks to 19 January 2020 – like-for-like sales rose 5.0% and total sales 4.9%.
The company, whose chairman is Tim Martin (pictured), said, “Since the start of the financial year, the company has opened one pub and sold five and intends to open a further ten to 15. It is expected about £80m will be spent this year on new pubs and pub extensions. The company has spent £57m in the year to date buying the freehold reversions of 18 pubs of which it was previously the tenant. Full-year reversion expenditure is expected to be about £85m (2019: £77m). A total of £320m has been spent on reversions since 2014.
“In addition, the company has spent £516m on buying and cancelling 53% of its own shares since the buyback program started in 2003. The number of shares in issue has been reduced from 221,512,519 to 104,678,395. The Company remains in a sound financial position. Net debt (pre IFRS16) at the end of this financial year is currently expected to be between £780m and £820m, slightly higher than previously anticipated, due to higher than anticipated capital expenditure.
“Expenditure on reversions and buybacks, referred to above, approximately equals company debt – if the company had not bought shares or reversions it would be more or less debt-free, having financed dividends, the repayment of 2003 borrowings of approximately £300m and the opening of a net 239 pubs, from free cash flow.”
