JD Wetherspoon expects higher costs in the remainder of the year, the British pubs group said today.
It also cautioned that uncertainty remained regarding deals with suppliers in Europe as Britain negotiates its exit from the European Union.
"The company's sales growth has been strong in the last few months, but has slowed in recent weeks. The company anticipates higher costs in the remainder of the current year, for instance in the areas of wages, business rates and repairs, " Chairman Tim Martin said in a trading statement.
The owner and operator of pubs in Britain and Ireland said sales growth slowed to 2.3% in the last five weeks of the period ended October 23, from growth of 3.5% for the 13 weeks ending at the same time.
The company said it had made a reasonable start in the current year which runs until ending July 2017.
But it added that any full-year forecasts were "inevitably tentative" as deals with European suppliers could be affected if Britain fails to secure tariff-free transactions from the EU.
"If we, and companies like ours, are unable to agree on tariff-free transactions, it will inevitably result in a loss of business for European companies which have done nothing to deserve this outcome," Martin said.
Martin was a prominent backer of Britain's bid to leave the EU, appearing in television debates before the June 23 vote and the company distributed half a million beer mats challenging statistics used by the government to back the "Stay" campaign.
