J D Wetherspoon (JDW) H1 2025 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Revenue for H1 2025 reached £1,029.5m, up 3.9% year-over-year, with like-for-like sales up 4.8%.

• Operating profit before separately disclosed items was £64.8m, with margin down to 6.30% due to higher labour and utility costs.

• Profit before tax (underlying) was £32.9m, down 8.6% from H1 2024; after separately disclosed items, profit before tax rose 58.2% to £41.3m.

• Interim dividend of 4.0p per share declared; 1.84 million shares repurchased for £11.5m.

• 796 trading pubs at half-year, with two new pubs opened, six sold, and five new franchise pubs planned for H2.

Financial highlights

• Adjusted/basic EPS before separately disclosed items increased to 21.5p; after such items, EPS rose to 27.8p.

• Free cash flow per share improved to -0.4p from -4.9p YoY.

• Net debt (excluding IFRS-16 lease debt) at £703.5m; including leases, total debt at £1.10bn.

• EBITDA (pre IFRS-16, LTM to Jan 2025): £191m.

• Operating margin before separately disclosed items fell to 6.30% from 6.83% YoY.

Outlook and guidance

• Like-for-like sales in the last seven weeks to 16 March 2025 were up 5.0% year-over-year.

• Anticipates a reasonable outcome for the full year, subject to future sales performance and significant cost pressures from higher national insurance and labour rates, adding £60m per annum.

• Planned new openings in key locations and further franchise expansion in H2.