Olympics Push Pub Chain's Sales

The Waterford-based pub chain JD Wetherspoon recorded a sales increase due to its screening of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games. The group’s 860 mainly town-centre pubs saw like-for-like sales grow 8.4 per cent and total sales increase by 12.8 per cent in the six weeks to September 9. However, the pub chain warned that this upward trend will probably not continue as the impact of one-off events diminishes. The group had also benefited from the Euro 2012 football tournament, during which bar sales rose by 2.8 per cent and food sales rose 4.8 per cent. Despite expected taxation and input costs, JD Wetherspoon maintained its forecast of a "reasonable outcome" for this financial year. The company opened 40 pubs in 2012 and intends to open about 25 pubs by the end of July 2013.