Tim Martin, chairman of JD Wetherspoon, denied that last week's end-of-year trading statement amounted to a profits warning.
The company said full-year profits "may be towards the lower end of analysts' estimates" and net operating margins for the year to late July would be close to the 11% seen in the first half, rather than the 12% the City was hoping for.
It also said it would be opening between 85 and 87 new pubs in the next financial year, slightly more than recent estimates of about 80.
Martin told the Financial Times: "Two years ago if we had announced six or seven more openings, it would have been taken as a reason to throw hats in the air."
The market was not convinced however and the shares fell 14.5p to 260p, a 12-month low, despite some positive comment from analysts.
In its statement the company said costs for the year to date are slightly higher than anticipated.
It also indicated that like for like sales increases have been slowing down in recent months. Like-for-likes for the 48 weeks to June 30 increased by 5.1%, Wetherspoon said, but the May like-for-like sales increase was only 3.8% and June's was 3.5%. Increases for the first two weeks of July were better, at 4% and 5% respectively. In early May, the group had reported third quarter (February-April) like-for-like sales up 5.7%.
However, all the figures are well below previous years, when like-for-like sales at the company's pubs rose 7.5% in 2000/01, 12.4% percent in 1999/2000 and 8.6% in 1998/99.
City analyst Greg Feehely, of Old Mutual, said the like-for-like figures, which were hit by the World Cup and Wetherspoon's refusal to put televisions in its pubs for fans to watch matches, were "more robust than many had been anticipating, particularly given that in France '98 the Wetherspoon estate experienced a 5% decline in sales during the football tournament.." The cumulative figure of a 5.1% rise in like-for-likes for the 48 weeks to June 30 was "only a slight slowdown from the 5.4% rise reported for the first nine months of the year," Feehely said.
Jim Clarke, the company's finance director, rejected suggestions the company might change its no-television rule after missing the opportunity to show the World Cup in all its pubs except for a handful of Lloyds No 1 bars.
The Financial Times says concern over the pressures on margins has probably been overplayed.
Goldman Sachs said investors continue to anticipate margin improvements but this was yet to happen.
ABN Amro published a research note which described the trading update as "reassuring given concern about the potential negative impact of the World Cup."
WestLB Panmure believes the group is well placed to outperform the sector and market over the long term.
The company said full-year profits "may be towards the lower end of analysts' estimates" and net operating margins for the year to late July would be close to the 11% seen in the first half, rather than the 12% the City was hoping for.
It also said it would be opening between 85 and 87 new pubs in the next financial year, slightly more than recent estimates of about 80.
Martin told the Financial Times: "Two years ago if we had announced six or seven more openings, it would have been taken as a reason to throw hats in the air."
The market was not convinced however and the shares fell 14.5p to 260p, a 12-month low, despite some positive comment from analysts.
In its statement the company said costs for the year to date are slightly higher than anticipated.
It also indicated that like for like sales increases have been slowing down in recent months. Like-for-likes for the 48 weeks to June 30 increased by 5.1%, Wetherspoon said, but the May like-for-like sales increase was only 3.8% and June's was 3.5%. Increases for the first two weeks of July were better, at 4% and 5% respectively. In early May, the group had reported third quarter (February-April) like-for-like sales up 5.7%.
However, all the figures are well below previous years, when like-for-like sales at the company's pubs rose 7.5% in 2000/01, 12.4% percent in 1999/2000 and 8.6% in 1998/99.
City analyst Greg Feehely, of Old Mutual, said the like-for-like figures, which were hit by the World Cup and Wetherspoon's refusal to put televisions in its pubs for fans to watch matches, were "more robust than many had been anticipating, particularly given that in France '98 the Wetherspoon estate experienced a 5% decline in sales during the football tournament.." The cumulative figure of a 5.1% rise in like-for-likes for the 48 weeks to June 30 was "only a slight slowdown from the 5.4% rise reported for the first nine months of the year," Feehely said.
Jim Clarke, the company's finance director, rejected suggestions the company might change its no-television rule after missing the opportunity to show the World Cup in all its pubs except for a handful of Lloyds No 1 bars.
The Financial Times says concern over the pressures on margins has probably been overplayed.
Goldman Sachs said investors continue to anticipate margin improvements but this was yet to happen.
ABN Amro published a research note which described the trading update as "reassuring given concern about the potential negative impact of the World Cup."
WestLB Panmure believes the group is well placed to outperform the sector and market over the long term.
