PUB giant JD Wetherspoon has reported a sharp fall in first-half profits amid higher labour, repairs, and utilities costs, as chairman Tim Martin made his now customary commentary on Brexit developments at Westminster, writes Scott Wright.

The company, which has around 70 pubs in Scotland, reported a profits fall of 18.9 per cent to £50.3 million for the 26 weeks ended January 27. And Mr Martin repeated costs will be higher in the second half compared with the same period last year, though “anticipates an unchanged trading outcome for the current financial year”.

Paul Hickman at Edison Investment Research, said said analysts expect full-year profits to “slip 5% to £102.1m.” Wetherspoon reported revenue of £889.6m for the first half, 7.1% higher than last year. It said like-for-like sales were up 6.3%, and have risen by 9.6% in the six weeks to March 10, boosted by favourable weather compared with last year’s Beast from the East.

On Brexit, Mr Martin declared that the result of the referendum of 2016 will not have been respected if Parliament votes for Theresa May’s withdrawal deal or votes to remain in the EU. He added: “This may well have significantly adverse economic consequences, as the country turns in on itself to endure months, or years, of stifling constitutional argument.”