Wetherspoon's first-half profit and revenue rise

14th Mar 2014 07:06

- Pre-tax profit up 8.5 per cent- Like-for-like sales climb 5.2 per cent- Dividend in line with 2013Pub and bar operator Wetherspoon reported an 8.5 per cent rise in pre-tax profit to 37.8m pounds in the first half on the back of an increase in sales. Like-for-like sales climbed 5.2%, with total sales, including new pubs, up 9.1% to £683.2m in the 26 weeks ended January 26th.Operating profit jumped 7% to £55.7m and the operating margin fell slightly to 8.2% from 8.3%.Earnings per share, before exceptional items, increased by 10.5% to 22.1p.Chairman Tim Martin said the biggest danger to the pub industry is the continuing tax disparity between supermarkets and pubs."Thanks mainly to the work of Jacques Borel's VAT Club, there is a growing realisation among politicians, the media and the public that a level tax playing field will create more jobs and taxes for the country."His comments come ahead of next week's UK budget announcement which will include details of new taxes.During the period the company continued to invest heavily in IT, in order to improve many areas of the business. "Examples of progress in this area include improved accounting systems, faster credit-card payments and better management of repairs and maintenance," Martin said. The group also spent £26.1m on repairs, compared to £22.8m last year, and £24.6m on refurbishments and improvements (2013: £17.2m).The board declared an interim dividend of 4p per share, in line with last year.RD