Wetherspoon may keep its divi on hold after sales slip

The bastion of bargain boozing JD Wetherspoon was forced to admit that the drowning of recessionary sorrows has gone flat.

That, plus the need to refinance £435 million of debt some time in the next 12 months, could see the pubs group pass on its dividend payouts for the second year running.

Wetherspoon today reported like-for-like sales up 0.3% in its August to October trading quarter.

Given that August and early September like-for-likes were running up 1.2%, that indicates a fall in sales in recent weeks. The group, however, prefers to see the glass half full.

Finance director Keith Down said current trading compares with a 1.5% rise in like-for-likes in the same quarter last year when it leafleted 16 million households with special offers.

Down said the group will not make any decision on whether to reinstate its suspended dividend payments until it can report back on its refinancing.