The founder of pub group JD Wetherspoon has said the company may be pushed to a loss in its half-year results after new coronavirus restrictions were brought in by the UK government.
Chairman Tim Martin said in a trading update that the government’s “plan B” to stop the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant appears to put the country on course for “a lockdown by stealth”.
Guidelines introduced this week include advice to work from home and to use face masks in indoor venues, excluding hospitality.
The company’s update said that the introduction of “radical changes of direction by the government” had made “predictions for sales and profits hazardous” and that its first-half results “may be loss-making or marginally profitable”.
“The typical British pub, contrary to received opinion in academia, is usually a bastion of social distancing,” Martin said. “In spite of reports of labour shortages and supply difficulties, Wetherspoon pubs, with few exceptions, are fully stocked and fully staffed. However, the repeated warnings and calls for restrictions, mainly from SAGE members and academics, combined with arbitrary changes of direction from the government, invariably at short notice, affect customer sentiment and trade. In effect, the country appears to be heading towards a lockdown by stealth.”
Martin cited Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, who wrote in the Daily Mail: “Nothing I have seen about this new variant warrants the extreme action the UK government has taken in response to it.”
The Wetherspoon chair added: “In spite of these problems, booster vaccinations and better weather in the spring are likely to have a positive impact in the coming months.”
In the year to 25 July, Wetherspoon posted a pre-tax loss of £154.7m.
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