British pubs operator JD Wetherspoon reported its slowest sales growth in at least seven years today and warned higher taxes would squeeze future results.
Wetherspoon said revenue rose 1.4% to £801.4m for the half year to January 22, down from growth of 6.2% a year earlier.
For the six weeks ended 5 March revenue fell 0.2%, it said, after posting a gain of 5.7% for the same time last year.
In January, Wetherspoon warned of lower like-for-like sales and higher costs in the next six months.
After the UK government's 2017 budget earlier this week, the company - which is already grappling with higher costs - said it faced an increase in taxes and duties of at least £20m next year.
"Wednesday’s budget will weigh far more heavily on pubs than supermarkets, especially since wage costs per pint or meal are approximately 10 times higher in pubs," J D Wetherspoon's chairman Tim Martin said in a statement.
Wetherspoon is seemingly the most exposed of Britain's managed pub operators to any economic slowdown and the company can no longer use space for growth, analysts said.
Finance minister Philip Hammond warned on Wednesday that Britain's growth from next year to the end of the decade would be weaker than previously thought and would only return to 2% in 2021.
Wetherspoon's said its pretax profit after exceptional items rose 9% to £39.9m and it said it would maintain its full-year dividend at 4 pence per share.
