JD Wetherspoon sank into the red after a surge in sales over the summer came to an end

JD Wetherspoon sank into the red after a surge in sales over the summer came to an end.

As Britons basked in warmer weather, the FTSE 250 pub chain said sales in August and September — the first nine weeks of its financial year — were 1.5 per cent higher than in the same period of 2019.

But in the following five weeks to November 6, sales slid 1.1 per cent against 2019 — the year before the pandemic struck.

Wetherspoons also warned that staff, food and repair costs were ‘substantially higher’ than a year ago. 

And while it has cut its debts from £892million at the end of July to £745million, its interest rate bill is expected to be £10million higher this year as borrowing costs rise.

The company, utiliser bonus casino 1win which has 847 pubs, said seven more will be put on the market in addition to the 32 that recently went up for sale.

Chairman Tim Martin said the chain remained ‘cautiously optimistic about future prospects’.

Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘We will need to hold our breath to find out if the more recent slowdown is a blip or a trend, as customers feel their wallets ever more squeezed.

‘With an acceleration in pub disposals and efforts to make a dent in its debt levels, it feels like the pub chain is battening down the hatches, and that may well be a sensible move.’

Peel Hunt lowered its rating to ‘hold’ from ‘add’ and cut the target price on Wetherspoon shares to 550p from 600p.

The stock plunged 6.3 per cent, or 30.8p, to 457.4p.

The FTSE 100 was down 0.14 per cent, or 9.89 points, to 7296.25 and the FTSE 250 fell 0.26 per cent, or 48.89 points, to 18,649.

<div class="art-ins mol-factbox floatRHS money" data-version="2" id="mol-217007a0-af74-11ec-8ecb-491bd3f41f9c" website REPORT: Wetherspoons slumps 6.2% as sales slow and costs surge