Wetherspoon confident about FY outcome

By Matt Scuffham

LONDON (Reuters) - Pubs group JD Wetherspoon (JDW.L) said on Wednesday it expected its pretax profit for the year just ending to come in towards the top end of market expectations, after cost cutting improved margins.

Shares in Wetherspoon, which have risen by over 40 percent since the start of the year making it the best performer among pubs stocks, were up 2.1 percent to 438 pence at 0855 GMT (9:55 a.m. British time), having earlier gained as much as 3.6 percent.

Forecasts for underlying pretax profit in the year ending July 26 had ranged between 51.9 million pounds and 64.2 million pounds, with the consensus at 59 million pounds, according to a Reuters Estimates poll of 17 analysts.

"I think we're probably ahead of expectations on where the consensus previously was. We're towards the top end of market expectations," Finance Director Keith Down told Reuters.

KBC Peel Hunt analyst Paul Hickman upgraded his 2009 underlying pretax profit forecast by 7 percent to 62.7 million pounds and his 2010 prediction by 10 percent to 67 million.

"Wetherspoon's ability to grow despite this difficult market is demonstrated by its firm Q4 performance," he said.

Numis lifted its pretax profit forecasts by 11 percent to 65 million pounds for 2009 and by 13 percent to 70 million in 2010.

Investec raised its forecasts by 2 percent to 64.8 million pounds for 2009 and by 8 percent to 70.6 million for 2010.