JD Wetherspoon - 28% fall in 2026 profits after 5.2% sales increase - but this year looking better

Mark Watson-Mitchell - 02.10.2026

This morning the pubs and hotels group J D Wetherspoon (LON:JDW) has reported preliminary results for the 52 weeks ended July 26, 2026, showing a 5.2% increase in revenue to £2,238m, driven by a 4.2% rise in like-for-like sales.

However, profit before tax decreased by 28.0% to £58.6m, and operating profit fell 17.9% to £120.2m, with basic earnings per share down 16.6% to 42.4p.

Despite these profit declines, free cash inflow per share significantly increased by 95.3% to 92.4p, and the full-year dividend remained at 12.0p.

The company anticipates profit before tax and separately disclosed items to be in line with current market expectations for the next financial year.

Commenting on the results, Tim Martin, the Chairman of J D Wetherspoon, said:

“In the last nine weeks, to 27 September 2026, like-for-like sales increased by 8.6%, helped, no doubt, by exceptional weather.

The company has made substantial progress in recent years in increasing the number of beer gardens and outside seating areas.

This has resulted in sales improving in hot weather whereas, in the past, sales sometimes declined.

The latest ‘NIQ RSM Hospitality Business Tracker’, for August 2026, said industry like-for-like sales were +0.8%.

During this period, Wetherspoon like-for-like sales were +7.7%.

This was the 48th month in a row that Wetherspoon has outperformed the tracker.

The hospitality industry, as many commentators and companies have noted, has borne the brunt of government-led tax and regulatory cost increases, especially in the last two budgets.

This has resulted in pubs becoming even more expensive than supermarkets, leading to job losses, closures and high street dereliction.

It is to be hoped that the powers-that-be will refrain from any further increases, since pubs and restaurants pay around 40% of their receipts as taxes of one sort or another - and provide immense financial support to the Treasury, as well as social support to the community.

In addition, as Jacques Borel, Tom Kerridge and multifarious individuals and organisations have noted, including, indeed, the Prime Minister and other party leaders, VAT is the main culprit in the disparity with supermarkets - and the hospitality industry will not be able to survive or thrive unless taxes and other costs are equalised.

Wetherspoon has made a good start to the financial year, although it is at least partially due to weather, which will inevitably revert to the norm.

At this early stage, we continue to anticipate profit before tax and separately disclosed items in line with current market expectations.”

J D Wetherspoon (Wetherspoon or Spoons) is a pub company that operates in the UK and Ireland.

The company was founded in 1979 by Tim Martin and is based in Watford.

Wetherspoon is known for converting unusual spaces, like former banks and cinemas, into pubs.

The company also operates the Lloyds No. 1 bars sub-brand and 56 Wetherspoon hotels.

Wetherspoon is part of the FTSE 250 Index.

The company has over 40,000 employees and has won hundreds of awards.

Wetherspoon's pubs generate almost all of the company's revenue, but the company also has a small hotel business with over 50 hotels in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

The group's shares closed at 813p last night, valuing the business at over £850m.