JD Wetherspoon first-half like-for-like sales down 53.9%, agrees further £51.7m CLBILS: JD Wetherspoon has reported a 53.9% decline in like-for-like sales in the 26 weeks to 24 January 2021, with revenue down by 53.8% to £431.1m (2020: £933.0m). The decline in sales, came as chairman Tim Martin said 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”. The business also announced it had agreed a further £51.7m from the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) earlier this month. The company said that like-for-like bar sales in the half year decreased by 57.3% (2020: up 4.2%), food by 48.4% (2020: up 5.6%) and fruit/slot machines by 53.7% (2020: up 20.3%). Like-for-like hotel room sales decreased by 51.8% (2020: down 1.3%). Pre-IFRS 16 operating profit decreased to minus £20.7m (2020: £76.6m). The operating margin was minus 4.8% (2020: 8.2%). Loss before tax and exceptional items was £46.2m (2020: £57.9m profit), including property losses of £1.3m (2020: £0.2m). The company said total capital investment was £19.0m in the period (2020: £135.8m), with £1.4m spent on freehold reversions of properties where Wetherspoon was the tenant (2020: £70.6m); £7.1m on new pub openings and extensions, mainly in respect of the Keavan’s Port Hotel in Dublin (2020: £34.8m); and £9.6m on existing pubs (2020: £32.8m). During the period, the company opened two new pubs and closed or sold two, bringing the number open at the period end to 872. Following a review of its estate, in recent years, the business placed about 100 pubs on the market, most of which it said had now been sold. Ten years ago (FY11) the group’s freehold/leasehold split was 43.4%/56.6%. At the half-year end, it was 64.4%/35.6%. As at 24 January 2021, the company’s net debt, including bank borrowings and finance leases, but excluding derivatives, was £811.9m (2020: £817.0m). The company said: “As a result of the pub closures, the normal net-debt-to-Ebitda covenant has been waived by the company’s lenders. The net-debt-to-Ebitda ratio has been replaced by a minimum liquidity covenant of £75m. As at 24 January 2021, the company had liquidity of £225.0m. There has been an increase in total facilities to £1,041.3m (2020: £993.0m), following the addition of a CLBILS loan in August 2020. Post period end, in March 2021, the company agreed a further £51.7m CLBILS loan.” Martin said: “Wetherspoon and its employees, along with the hospitality industry, have worked very hard to comply with ever-changing government guidelines. It is disappointing 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 drinks and masks for bathroom visits. The future of the industry, and of the UK economy, depends on a consistent set of sensible policies, and the ending of lockdowns and tier systems, which have created economic and social mayhem and colossal debts, with no apparent health benefits.” Martin said that by the time pubs were closed by the government after Christmas, a total of 1,244, or 3.3%, of 37,800 Wetherspoon employees had tested positive for covid-19, from reopening in July. He said: “For the UK as a whole, 2.3 million people had tested positive by then, according to the UK government website – 3.4% of the population. Since pub employees spend more time in pubs than anyone else, these statistics do not indicate pubs are centres of transmission, which some commentators have suggested. There were no reported instances of the virus being transmitted from staff to customers in Wetherspoon pubs, or vice versa, since the reopening last July. Wetherspoon recorded more than 50 million customer visits to its pubs from reopening in July, to the year end, and there has been no evidence of even a single outbreak, as defined by the health authorities, during this time. The main problem is the government and SAGE have been unscientific in their approach – ignoring evidence, which contradicts their ‘narrative’. Rather than embracing, debating and investigating anomalies and counterintuitive information, as real scientists do, they have, instead, tried to discredit dissenters, as Wetherspoon News has pointed out. These tactics can work in an election campaign, but risk disaster in the day-to-day management of problems. Examples of entirely unscientific initiatives include the introduction of a curfew, the requirement for a ‘substantial meal’ with a drink and the wearing of face masks to visit the bathroom.”

McDonald’s facing new claims of covid rules being broken: McDonald’s will expand its investigation into covid rule-breaking after claims that sales competitions between restaurants are endangering staff health and safety. Employees across England have contacted Sky News with serious concerns about how the chain has dealt with the winter wave of the pandemic. They have now claimed competitions, where restaurants try to beat each other on food service targets, have resumed and they further jeopardise adherence to the chain’s own covid-19 rules. McDonald’s UK paused the sales competitions during the pandemic to enable their restaurants to prioritise safety – a policy that is officially still in place – but Sky News understands some franchisees have recently reintroduced them. After McDonald’s reopened following last year’s first lockdown, it also promised staff would be able to wash their hands every 30 minutes, social distancing would be in place, and workers would have temperature checks before starting a shift. Earlier this week, McDonald’s workers in Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Kent approached Sky News with concerns after feeling powerless to raise the issues with local managers. Further reports of covid rule-breaking have now been made at restaurants in South Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, which McDonald’s said it would examine.