J.D. Wetherspoon plc (LON: JDW) said on Friday that it concluded the fiscal first half with a pre-tax loss due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis that weighed on its revenue. The Coronavirus pandemic has so far infected more than 4.2 million people in the United Kingdom and caused a little under 126 thousand deaths.
J.D. Wetherspoon shares that you can learn to buy online here opened at £13.15 per share on Friday and are currently trading at £13.12 per share after touching an intraday low of £12.98 per share. In comparison, the stock had started the year at a lower £10.43 per share.
J.D. Wetherspoon reports £431 million of revenue
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J.D. Wetherspoon reported £59.3 million of pre-tax loss in the six months that concluded on 24th January. In the comparable period of last year, it had posted £42 million of profit instead. In its earlier report published in October, the Watford-based company had registered £94.8 million of pre-tax loss for fiscal 2020.
According to the pub company, it generated £431.1 million of revenue in H1 versus the year-ago figure of £933 million. Comparable sales, J.D. Wetherspoon added, were 54% down on a year over year basis.
On the back of its dovish performance, the British firm’s board refrained from announcing a dividend on Friday. Cash flow in the first half came in at negative £77.3 million, compared to positive £49 million in H1 of last year.
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Chairman Tim Martin’s comments on Friday
Chairman Tim Martin commented on the financial update on Friday and said:
“It is disappointing that so many regulations, implemented at tremendous cost to the nation, appear to have had no real basis in common sense or science – for example, curfews, ‘substantial meals’ with rinks, and masks for bathroom visits. The future of the industry, and of the UK economy, depends on a consistent set of sensible policies, based on scientific evidence, rather than on political expediency.”
In separate news, Germany, France, and several other European countries said late on Thursday that they will resume the use of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca in collaboration with the Oxford University after suspending its use last week on fear of blood clots in the patients.
J.D. Wetherspoon performed fairly downbeat in the stock market last year with an annual decline of roughly 35%. At the time of writing, it is valued at £1.69 billion.
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