JD Wetherspoon’s sales and profits grew over the past year as the pub group’s boss said it would try to “keep price increases to a minimum” despite pressure from rising labour costs.
The company, which operates nearly 800 pubs across the Ƶ, reported revenues totalling £2.13bn for the year to July 27.
This was 4.5% higher than the year before, while sales on a like-for-like basis, which strips out the impact of pub openings and closures, rose by 5.1%.
The group’s pre-tax profit jumped by a 10th to £81.4m for the financial year.
Wetherspoon’s chairman, Exeter-based Sir Tim Martin, said increases to national insurance contributions and wages was adding about £60m to its yearly costs, as well as facing an impact from energy costs and new packaging taxes.
“Cost increases such as these will undoubtedly add to underlying inflation in the Ƶ economy, although Wetherspoon, as always, will endeavour to keep price increases to a minimum,” he said.
Mr Martin said Wetherspoon, its customers and employees had generated a total of £838m of taxes for the Ƶ government over the last year.
"In other words, the country only needs about one thousand companies like Wetherspoon and no one else would have to pay any taxes at all," he said in a statement to the stock market.
"Wetherspoon is confident that it will provide more tax revenue for the government in the current financial year, while aspiring to increase earnings per share at the same time."
He added that Wetherspoon expects a "reasonable outcome" for the financial year although warned government-led increases in areas such as energy could have a bearing on the outcome.
In July, the pub chain reported that its sales had surpassed pre-pandemic levels for the first time, following a challenging five years for the hospitality sector.
