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Weatherspoon blames tax as expansion plans cut March 9, 2012 British pubs operator JD Wetherspoon said it would cut back expansion plans, blaming a harsh tax regime for exacerbating tough trading conditions, and was cautious about prospects for the second half following a decline in sales. The company, which has over 800 pubs across Britain, said it would scale back new openings to 40 pubs [...]
Wetherspoon and co make for easy laughs March 1, 2012 Film THIS MEANS WAR Cert: 12A *** WHEN Charlie’s Angels director McG meets Simon Kinberg, writer of the original Mr and Mrs Smith script, the result is big, brainless fun. Throw a great cast into the mix, ensuring they can deal with some incredibly cringeworthy clichés, and you’re onto a dumb-but-enjoyable winner. When CIA agents [...]
More cruise liner than chic January 23, 2012 Kitchen Joël Antunès 29 Old Burlington Street, London, W1S 3AN T: 020 7494 5660 FOOD * SERVICE ** ATMOSPHERE * Cost per person without wine: £65 Legends aren’t what they used to be. Almost anyone can be one. You have to do something pretty heinous to be both famous and dead and not be called [...]
Wetherspoon margins hit by VAT costs January 18, 2012 JD WETHERSPOON reported better-than-expected sales in the Christmas period but its chairman Tim Martin called on the chancellor to rethink “punishing” tax increases levied on the pub sector. Martin said the company is still on course to open around 50 pubs in the current financial year but warned that it may scale back future expansion [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HOW HAS WETHERSPOON FARED AGAINST RISING COSTS? January 18, 2012 PATRICK COFFEY | LIBERUM CAPITAL Despite JD Wetherspoon’s investment for the future, we believe the company’s valuation is inconsistent with a sector under pressure from rising costs and macro-uncertainty… We reiterate our “sell” recommendation. PAUL HICKMAN | PEEL HUNT Posting a good second quarter result shows Wetherspoon robustly on course for our modest earnings growth [...]
Resource stocks peg back FTSE January 18, 2012 The FTSE 100 edged down this morning amid continuing fears of a Greek economic meltdown and a lowering of world growth forecasts by the World Bank. Resource stocks were the worst hit overall as the bank predicted world economic growth of 2.5 per cent in 2012 and 3.1 per cent in 2013, well below the [...]
Wetherspoon profit margin slimming January 18, 2012 Pubs firm JD Wetherspoon said its operating margin declined in the second quarter of its fiscal year and will come under further pressure in the second half due to continuing cost increases. “We expect the operating margin for the half year ending 22 January 2012 to be slightly below that achieved in the first quarter [...]
Wetherspoon boss hits out at pub taxes November 3, 2011 TIM Martin, the outspoken executive chairman of the JD Wetherspoon pub chain he founded in 1979, has called for the Treasury to rein in an “unsustainable” level of tax levied on pubs. Wetherspoon’s tax bill tallied to £453.1m in the 13 weeks to 21 October, compared with a profit after tax of just £46.8m. This [...]
LIBERTARIAN LEAFLETERS HIT OUT AT ANTI-CAPITALIST PROTESTS October 17, 2011 SNEAKING among the protesters outside St. Paul’s Cathedral over the weekend was a pack of intrepid pro-capitalist activists. Their purpose? To reform and educate the anti-corporate revolutionaries on the beauty of an unimpeded free market. “We distributed more than 100 leaflets to protesters,” ringleader Simon Gibbs told The Capitalist. “One third of protesters, mostly young [...]
Wetherspoon chief takes pay cut as two directors sign off with £766k October 17, 2011 FOUNDER and chief executive of pub group JD Wetherspoon, Tim Martin, has taken a £19,000 pay cut this year while two top directors have parted with the firm with combined total payments of £766,000. Martin’s salary was £375,000 in the year to 24 July, according to the company’s annual report. That compared with his 2010 [...]