JD Wetherspoon (JDW) is preparing for a slowdown in trading activity when the government’s ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ subsidising scheme ends at the close of this month. The pub group attributed a sales recovery to the initiative along with the use of additional outside space, but still expects to close its financial year in a loss-making position.
Almost all of Wetherspoons’ sites are open now, with the exception of some airport and station pubs. The group recorded a like-for-like sales decline of 17 per cent for the 44 days to 16 August, which was better than Peel Hunt analysts’ prediction of a 25 per cent slump. Eat Out to Help Out has helped drive footfall into the earlier part of the week while Wetherspoons customers have also benefited from a cut in VAT on food and non-alcoholic drinks until the middle of January, which the group has passed on in the form of price cuts.
Landlords and licensing bodies have allowed Wetherspoons to use more outside space than normal, which has helped to bring in customers. But the group warned that it expects “a period of more subdued sales” once Eat Out to Help Out ends.
