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UK pub chain operating large, low-price food-and-drink pubs across town centers nationwide.
UK pub chain operating large, low-price food-and-drink pubs across town centers nationwide.
Pays its way through volume: prices set low across the estate, central buying and little advertising or music in the pubs, so sales per pub and costs for staff, energy and UK drinks duty drive profit. Drinks outweigh food in sales. Tim Martin, the founder, remains chairman and a large shareholder.
In one line: A UK value-focused pub chain, distinctively no-frills/low-price.
Moat: narrow (cost advantage, brand, scale). Consistently low pricing strategy and scale purchasing keep the format hard to replicate profitably.
Headquarters: Watford, UK · Founded: 1979 · Employees: 44,391
Size J D Wetherspoon (JDW.L) is a United Kingdom Consumer Discretionary company (Restaurants) with a market value of $1.33B, the 198th largest of 363 United Kingdom companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at £1,016 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 69.0%, against +22.4% for the median peer and +3.6% for the United Kingdom market (cap-weighted) — 3rd highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 5.2% over the last twelve months (peer median +7.6%); the operating margin is 5.4% (peer median 6.1%).
Valuation It trades at 19.6× forward earnings against a peer median of 25.4× (8th cheapest of 18).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 8% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +24%, so the hurdle is -16 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 2.0 points below its cost of capital (8.7% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 19 Mar 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2026 | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £2.24B | £2.24B | £2.13B | £2.04B | £1.93B |
| Revenue growth | — | +5% | +5% | +6% | — |
| Gross profit | £120M | £179M | £200M | £198M | £159M |
| EBITDA | £240M | £240M | £256M | £240M | £216M |
| Net income | £60.5M | £60.5M | £68.0M | £48.8M | £59.6M |
| Free cash flow | £178M | £178M | £129M | £91.2M | £321M |
| Capital expenditure | £31.9M | £31.9M | £74.1M | £82.6M | £47.0M |
| Total debt | n/a | £1.07B | £1.17B | £1.14B | £1.18B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J D Wetherspoon JDW.L | $1.33B | +69% | +5% | 5% | 19.6× | 7.7% |
| Mitchells & Butlers MAB.L | $2.56B | +25% | +3% | 12% | 10.2× | 4.7% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | JDW.L | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +1.4% | +3.0% | 10th lowest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +69.0% | +22.4% | 3rd highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -6.4% | -12.8% | 6th highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +5.2% | +7.6% | 9th lowest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 5.4% | 6.1% | 9th lowest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 19.6× | 25.4× | 8th cheapest of 18 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 7.7% | 12.2% | 8th least demanding of 20 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +23.7% | +10.6% | 3rd highest of 20 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -16.0 pp | +1.4 pp | 4th least demanding of 20 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -2.0 pp | +1.3 pp | 9th lowest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 8.4× | 12.8× | 4th cheapest of 17 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 4.3× | 3.3× | 4th most indebted of 18 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J D Wetherspoon JDW.L | United Kingdom | $1.33B | +69% | +5% | 5% | 19.6× | 7.7% | +23.7% |
| Guangzhou Restaurant 603043.SS | China | $1.31B | 0% | +9% | 11% | 17.3× | -3.5% | +10.4% |
| Sweetgreen SG | United States | $1.43B | +72% | -1% | -18% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Cracker Barrel Old Country Store CBRL | United States | $1.45B | +106% | -5% | 0% | 30.3× | 14.0% | +3.3% |
| Arcos Dorados ARCO | United States | $1.45B | -23% | +11% | 6% | 9.1× | -3.5% | +18.7% |
| Domino's Pizza Enterprises DMP.AX | Australia | $1.48B | +48% | -11% | 5% | 16.9× | 17.9% | -1.4% |
| Domino's Pizza DOM.L | United Kingdom | $1.19B | +24% | +6% | 15% | 13.1× | 9.5% | +6.3% |
| BJ's Restaurants BJRI | United States | $1.18B | +30% | +4% | 3% | 22.5× | 26.8% | +12.4% |
| Monogatari 3097.T | Japan | $1.50B | +43% | +22% | 8% | 25.4× | 2.0% | +18.8% |
| Colowide 7616.T | Japan | $1.51B | +21% | +16% | 4% | n/a | 13.6% | +12.3% |
| Xiaocaiyuan International 0999.HK | Hong Kong | $1.17B | +16% | +3% | 15% | 13.1× | -9.6% | +15.8% |
| Wendy's WEN | United States | $1.55B | +12% | -1% | 13% | 17.9× | 2.4% | +4.7% |
| Ohsho Food Service 9936.T | Japan | $1.11B | -1% | 0% | 7% | 27.5× | 4.2% | +7.7% |
| Travel Food Services TRAVELFOOD.NS | India | $1.63B | -6% | -2% | 30% | 31.7× | 13.0% | +15.6% |
| Westlife Foodworld WESTLIFE.NS | India | $1.08B | +31% | +10% | 5% | 343.5× | 49.0% | +21.7% |
| Devyani International DEVYANI.NS | India | $1.68B | +8% | +14% | 4% | 323.9× | 52.1% | +37.6% |
| Ichibanya 7630.T | Japan | $1.06B | +21% | +8% | 6% | 57.3× | 12.2% | +8.2% |
| Doutor Nichires 3087.T | Japan | $1.03B | +33% | +8% | 7% | 16.3× | -4.7% | +10.6% |
| Biglari BH | United States | $1.01B | +5% | +8% | 5% | n/a | 22.1% | -1.8% |
| Guzman y Gomez GYG.AX | Australia | $1.82B | +55% | +19% | 17% | 51.0× | 32.7% | +34.2% |
| Yoshinoya 9861.T | Japan | $1.84B | +42% | +10% | 4% | 45.5× | 11.2% | +5.8% |