Wetherspoon chair gets frothed up on EU after sales jump

Tim Martin’s latest blast at remainers came as firm revealed solid annual result

JD Wetherspoon’s Brexitbacking founder and chairman has launched a fresh attack on EU remainers after his pubs empire cheered solid full-year results.

Figures yesterday revealed a 4.1 per cent hike in revenues to £1.66 billion for the year to 30 July, during which profits jumped almost 28 per cent to £102.8 million.

Shares leapt after the group, whose 900-odd venues include the Caley Picture House in Edinburgh and Dunfermline’s Guildhall & Linen Exchange, said like-for-like sales rose 4 per cent in the period, with comparable sales up 6.1 per cent since August. A full-year dividend of 12p a share was maintained.

Tim Martin, who began the business in the late 1970s with a single pub in Muswell Hill, London, said: “Since the year end, Wetherspoon’s likefor-like sales have continued to be encouraging and have increased by 6.1 per cent. This is a positive start, but is for a few weeks only – and is very unlikely to continue for the rest of the year.

“Comparisons will become more stretching – and sales, which were very strong in the summer holidays, are likely to return to more modest levels.

“It is anticipated that likefor-like sales of around 3-4 per cent will be required in order to match last year’s profit before tax.”

Martin has previously used companystatementstoaccuse Brussels of bullying the UK and has ripped into a number of remain figures.

He has lashed out at former chancellor George Osborne, the IMF, the Bank of England, the CBI, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and PWC, who he claims were too negative about the impact of a leave vote.

In a statement accompanying the latest results, he told investors: “In the current negotiations, democraticallyelected politicians from the UK are dealing with unelected oligarchs from the EU.

“As a result of their current posturing and threats, EU negotiators are inevitably encouraging importers like Wetherspoon to look elsewhere for supplies.

“This process is unlikely to have adverse effects on the UK economy, as companies will be able to switch to suppliers representing the 93 per cent of the world’s population which is not in the EU, but this evolution will eventually be highly damaging to the economy of the EU.

“Wetherspoon is extremely confident that it can switch from EU suppliers, if required, although we would be very reluctant to initiate such actions.”

He added: “It is my view that Juncker, Barnier, Selmayr, Verhofstadt and others need to take a wise-up pill in order to avoid causing further economic damage to struggling economies like Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy – where youth unemployment, in particular, is at epidemic levels.”

Despite his hard line stance, Martin recently announced that the group would be pushing ahead with a major new pub and hotel in Dublin.

sreid@scotsman.com