JD Wetherspoon PLC tumbles into loss as lockdown cuts sales in half

PLC () swung into a loss in its half-year results as the UK’s lockdown measures cut sales for the pub chain in half.

In its results for the 26 weeks to January 24, 2021, the FTSE 250 firm reported a pre-tax loss before exceptional items of £46.2mln compared to a £57.9mln profit a year ago, while revenues plunged 53.8% to £431.1mln.

READ: JD Wetherspoon to open outdoor space in half of English pubs on 12 April

The firm also reported that like-for-like sales during the six months had fallen by 53.9%, while it also reported cash flow during the period of -£77.3mln compared to a positive flow of £49mln a year ago.

Meanwhile, Wetherspoon’s chairman Tim Martin used the firm’s outlook statement to lambast what he dubbed the UK government’s “ever-changing” guidelines.

“It is disappointing that so many regulations, implemented at tremendous cost to the nation, appear to have had no real basis in common sense or science – for example, curfews, “substantial meals” with drinks, and masks for bathroom visits. The future of the industry, and of the UK economy, depends on a consistent set of sensible policies, based on scientific evidence, rather than on political expediency,” Martin said.

He added that as a result of the uncertainty it remained “impossible to decipher a pattern in sales”.