Wetherspoon's boss launches Brexit tirade as he toasts another rise in profits

Value pub chain JD Wetherspoon has posted rising full year sales and profit, while the firm's Brexit-backing chairman took aim at EU "oligarchs" in yet another tirade.
WetherspoonsWetherspoons
Wetherspoons

Revenue rose 4.1% to £1.66 billion in the year to July 30 as the group booked profits of £102.8 million, an increase of 27.6%.

Like-for-like sales rose 4% in the period, with Wetherspoon saying that comparable sales have increased by 6.1% since August.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Chairman Tim Martin said: "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 like-for-like sales of around 3-4% will be required in order to match last year's profit before tax."

Mr Martin has previously used company statements to accuse the EU of bullying the UK and ripped into a number of Remain figures.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

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.

On Friday it was no different.He said: "In the current negotiations, democratically-elected 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% 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."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr Martin also claimed that the EU's stance on Brexit is doing damage to "struggling economies" like Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy, where he pointed to youth unemployment levels.

Despite his diehard Brexit stance, Mr Martin in June announced Wetherspoon's biggest ever single investment will go into the European Union through the development of a new pub and 98-bedroom hotel in Dublin city centre.