The warm weather has clearly drummed up our thirst for prosecco and Guinness, in particular. Lifting Wetherspoonโs volumes above pre-pandemic levels is an important milestone and itโs encouraging to see food items follow the trend too.
UK consumer confidence is on the up and just hit its highest point since December. If inflation resumes its downward journey after the summer and takes interest rates with it, JDW could get a further demand boost heading into the final stretch of the year.
Throw in a raft of pub openings which should take the group past the 800 site mark and the back half of 2025 paints a promising picture, even with the well-publicised hike in tax and staff costs.
The only glaring concern is the debt pile but, for now, the market clearly thinks itโs manageable enough to look past. JDWโs share price performance in 2025 wouldnโt look out of place among the Magnificent 7 and, if pub openings, refurbished sites and fresh gardens do the trick and pull us in over the summer, like-for-like sales could get a boost heading into the new trading year.
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