THE boss of JD Wetherspoon has declared it will “try to remain as competitive as possible” on prices amid the “ferocious” inflationary pressure facing the pub industry.

Tim Martin was commenting after Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, had urged companies to proceed cautiously with regard to increasing prices because of concerns it could stoke inflation further.

Official figures showed annual UK consumer prices index inflation had unexpectedly increased to 10.4 per cent in February, up from 10.1% in January

Mr Martin said yesterday that inflationary pressures in the pub trade “have been ferocious, particularly in respect of energy, food, and labour” as Wetherspoon reported a return to profit for the first half. Asked if the company plans to increase prices, he said: “All we can really say about prices is that we try to remain as competitive as possible, which has been our approach for several decades.”

Mr Martin noted: “The Bank of England, and other authorities, believe that inflation is on the wane, which will certainly be of great benefit, if correct.”

Shares in Wetherspoon surged by nearly 14% after the company reported first-half profits of £4.6m for the 26 weeks to January 29. This marked a return to the black following a loss of £26.1m last year but was adrift of the £50.3m profit at the same stage in 2019.

Wetherspoon said that revenue had climbed by 3% to £916m in the first half, with like-for-like sales 5% ahead of the same period in 2019. And it said sales since the period-end were running ahead of comparable periods in its last financial year and before the pandemic broke out.

Mr Martin said: “Having experienced a substantial improvement in sales and profits, compared to our most recent financial year... the company is cautiously optimistic about further progress in the current financial year and in the years ahead.” Shares closed up 79p at 660p.