RNS Number:2670W
Wetherspoon (JD) PLC
08 May 2007



                               JD WETHERSPOON PLC

                          THIRD QUARTER TRADING UPDATE

9 May 2007



Current Trading



For the 13 weeks of the third quarter (to 29 April 2007) like-for-like sales
increased by 3.4%. Year-to-date (39 weeks to 29 April 2007) like-for-like sales
have increased by 6.1%, with overall Company sales up by 7.2%.



Property



The financial year so far has seen the opening of 11 new pubs and the disposal
of 3. Approximately 20 new sites are expected to open this financial year, with
30 in the next year.



Non-Smoking Pubs



The experience in our converted non-smoking pubs continues to be encouraging.
The 39 Scottish pubs have now passed the anniversary of the implementation of
non-smoking legislation and continue to perform well. We have 34 pubs in Wales,
where non-smoking legislation was introduced at the start of April 2007, and the
initial results have been in line with the Scottish experience.



Outlook



In addition to the cost pressures previously highlighted in energy and wages,
the third quarter has seen increases in our underlying investment in certain
areas. These include increased repairs in advance of non-smoking legislation,
combined with extra costs from the temporary closure of all of our pubs for the
installation of new beer and wine chilling systems.



We have increased non-smoking areas to approximately 80% of customer space since
January, which has resulted in strong growth in food sales, with some adverse
impact on bar volumes, and we will continue to increase our marketing activity
in advance of non-smoking in England.






Wetherspoon has led the industry with regard to non-smoking initiatives and has
been willing to invest in the relevant areas to maximise the benefit from
non-smoking legislation. This worked well with our Scottish pubs, and we have
continued to take initiatives in recent months, at a level in advance of our
previous plans. We believe that these are important areas and will produce
significant underlying benefits during the change to a non-smoking environment.
The scale of these initiatives will result in a short-term impact on
profitability and the full year profits outcome is expected to be marginally
below current market expectations.





Enquiries:




John Hutson                    Chief Executive                 01923 477777
Jim Clarke                     Finance Director                01923 477777
Eddie Gershon                  Company Spokesman               0208 352 5012/
                                                               07956 392234

Visit our web site at www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END

MSCUUUPUAUPMGBR
Wetherspoon ( J.d.) (LSE:JDW)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2024 to Aug 2024 Click Here for more Wetherspoon ( J.d.) Charts.
Wetherspoon ( J.d.) (LSE:JDW)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2023 to Aug 2024 Click Here for more Wetherspoon ( J.d.) Charts.