Wetherspoons toasts sales rise despite City grumbles

City analysts moan that sales aren't rising as quickly as those of Greene King, but budget pub chain JD Wetherspoon is still moving in the right direction.

Sales in the 13 weeks to April 24 are smartly up 7.4%, a pace that would delight most retailers.

'Spoons recently opened its 800th pub, halfway to chairman Tim Martin's target of a 1600-strong empire.

That will be saturation point, Martin thinks, for the business he started with one pub in 1979.

Like-for-like sales, a figure which strips out the impact of new pubs, are up 2.4%.

The company plans to open 50 more pubs this year.

Wetherspoons has been buying back shares to boost shareholder value - 7.6 million worth at a cost of £32.6 million so far.

Greene King sales have lately been rising at more than 8%. Pubs in general have had a good time lately at the expense of other leisure industries as Britons decided the warm weather was a good excuse to sit in beer gardens.

Wetherspoons shares slipped 8p to 446p today, which leaves the company valued at £587 million.