Wetherspoons cheers Xmas sales rise
By Frank Prenesti
Date: Wednesday 22 Jan 2020
(Sharecast News) - Pub chain Wetherspoons on Wednesday said it increased second quarter like-for-like sales by 4.7% over the Christmas period as it held full year guidance.
Total sales for the quarter to January 19 rose by 4.2%, while in the year to date, like-for-like sales increased by 5% and total sales by 4.9%.
The cut-price operator said it had opened one new pub and sold five this fiscal year and intended to open a further 10 - 15, forecasting that it would spend around £80m this year on new premises and extensions.
Wetherspoons 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 was expected to be around £85m, up from £77m in 2019.
Net debt at the end of the financial year was currently expected to be slightly nhigher than expected at £780m - £820m, due to higher-than-anticipated capital expenditure.
"Expenditure on reversions and buybacks ... 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," the company said in a statement.
Email this article to a friend
or share it with one of these popular networks:
You are here: news
10 Lower Thames St,
London EC3R 6EN