Wetherspoon shares dive on full year profit announcement

15th Jul 2015 08:32

(ShareCast News) - Shares in Wetherspoon were down 6.87% to 718p at 10:09 BST after the company said pre-tax profit was likely to be lower than the year before. The pub operator said that while sales figures for the full year had increased, cost increases meant pre-tax profit was likely to be down on the previous year.In a pre-close statement for the financial year to 26 July, Wetherspoons said sales were up 7.6%, but as previously indicated full year pre-tax profit is likely to be lower than last year.The company had opened 26 new pubs, disposed of six and had 30 more pubs in development for the current financial year. However 20 further pubs have been added to the list of potential disposals.Weatherspoon chairman Tim Martin reiterated the company's view on the government's new living wage policy.Martin said the policy would add considerable difficulty for companies making financial projections, and the increased labour costs would hurt pubs more than supermarkets."This disadvantage is compounded by a huge VAT and business rates disparity between pubs and supermarkets, which is putting unsustainable pressure on many pubs in our industry, especially in smaller towns and less-affluent areas," Martin said in a statement.