JD Wetherspoon PLC (LSE:JDW) has reported a lift in first-half sales and earnings - and reintroduced its interim dividend.
But the owner and operator of pubs and hotels across the UK and Ireland has warned of the impact of rising labour costs and what it described as unfair tax treatment.
Like-for-like sales rose by 4.8% in the 26 weeks to 26 January 2025 while revenue increased to £1.03 billion. That was up from £991 million a year earlier.
Profit before tax, before separately disclosed items, came in at £32.9 million, down from £36 million. Operating profit fell to £64.8 million from £67.7 million. Basic earnings per share rose to 21.5p, up from 20.3p.
The company announced a half-year dividend of 4p. There was no dividend at this time last year.
Chairman Tim Martin warned that labour and national insurance increases would push up company costs by about £60 million per year. That is around £1,500 per pub each week.
“Since labour costs are around 35% of the pub industry's sales, compared to around 11% for supermarkets, increases of this nature inevitably have a disproportionate impact on pubs,” he said.
“The combination of much higher VAT rates for pubs than supermarkets, combined with increased labour costs will weigh heavily on the pub industry.”
He added that the company expects a reasonable result for the year, depending on how sales perform in the coming months.