Wetherspoon boss laments higher wages

THE founder of Wetherspoon’s used a dismal set of financial figures for the pub chain to launch another broadside against paying staff higher wages.

Multi-millionaire Tim Martin said the rules, which force employers to pay £7.20 an hour from April rising to £9 by the end of the decade, would force more pubs to pull down the shutters.

His comments, which are at odds with many businesses that depend on low-paid staff, come as the company reported one of its worst ever falls in earnings.

Pre- tax profits at the chain declined by a quarter from £78.4m to £58.7m following a series of write-offs on property values.

But even once the exceptional charges were stripped out, the profits from its pubs still fell some 2pc. Shares fell 4p to 716p.

More than a third of its sales, which last year hit a record high of £1.5bn, are spent on staff wages, Martin said.

‘By pushing up the cost of wages by a large factor, the Government is inevitably putting financial pressure on pubs, many of which have already closed,’ he said.

His comments jar with those of other executives who this week welcomed the changes. Morrisons boss Davidavid Potts said paying fro front line staff more was ‘a good thing’, even though the cost to the grocer will be ‘tens of millions’, and Dixons Carphone chief Seb James said he believed ‘in paying colleagues a decent wage’.

Martin’s largest gripe is that pubs are unable to compete with supermarkets, which do not pay VAT on food and can aggressively subsidise alcohol. He yesterday criticised rivals Enterprise Inns, Mitchells & Butlers, Greene King and Marston’s for not campaigning ‘in any meaningful way for VAT equality between pubs and supermarkets’.