Wetherspoon's bemoans tax burden after small increase in like-for-like sales

01-May-2012 - Last updated on 02-May-2012 at 08:04 GMT

JDW: Tax burden for current financial year will be roughly £0.5bn

JD Wetherspoon has reported a 2% rise in like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to 22 April, as it revealed plans to further scale down its opening programme and predicted its tax bill will reach half a billion pounds this year.

Total sales in the quarter for the managed pub operator increased by 8.4%. In the year to date (39 weeks to 22 April 2012), like-for-like sales increased by 2%, and overall sales were up 8.4%.

JDW said it stood by its plan to open 40 new sites in the current financial year but said: “It is our present intention to open approximately 20 to 30 pubs in the next financial year.”

The company has opened 29 new pubs and closed two pubs since the start of the financial year, and has “several sites under development”.

JDW said the pub industry was “burdened with considerable additional taxes” at the Budget, with Wetherspoons facing an extra £2m due changes in fruit machine taxation, £2m in the late-night levy, in addition to rising excise duty.

“The total tax bill for Wetherspoon in the current financial year, including VAT, excise duty, corporation and other taxes will be approximately half a billion pounds, about a £50-million increase, compared with the previous financial year.

"We have also created approximately 3,000 jobs in the same period, but all of the economic benefits of our expansion are currently being levied by the government as taxes - an unsustainable situation.”

The company repeated its view that the current tax system, whereby pubs pay 20% VAT on food sales, while supermarkets pay virtually nothing, "is bad for jobs and taxes" and urged the government to reduce VAT for the hospitality industry.