Pub chain JD Wetherspoon has toasted its best ever annual results, The company said it went back to basics to ride out the recession, focusing on service standards, staff training and incentives.
The group, which has 731 pubs, including hostelries in Bradford, Keighley, Bingley, Shipley, Cleckheaton, and Skipton, reported under-lying pre-tax profits up 13.6 per cent to £66.2m and sales of £955.1m in the year to July 26 – a record since the firm was incorporated in 1983.
It said property devalu-ations and impairment charges of more than £21m left bottom-line profits 16.9 per cent lower at £45m..
Like-for-like sales held firm, up by 1.2 per cent and increasing to growth of two per cent in the final weeks, easing back to 1.2 per cent in the six weeks to September.
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