JD Wetherspoon (JDW) Shares Rose 1.15% on Media Corrections

The J D Wetherspoon plc (LON: JDW) share price rose 1.15% after the pub operator announced that it had received yet another apology from The Independent regarding some erroneous reporting about statements made by its Chairman during the pandemic lockdown period. 

The Independent had erroneously reported that Tim Martin, JD Wetherspoon’s chairman, had told his over 40,000 employees to work at supermarkets if they so desired after the closure of pubs due to the pandemic lockdown measures implemented by the government. 

However, Mr Martin said he would understand if some of his employees were offered supermarket jobs and wanted to accept them due to the lockdown. However, he did not tell them to take the jobs if offered automatically. 

The pub operator paid all its employees even during the lockdown period via furlough pay, which commenced in early April 2020. The company also noted that this was the fifth time it had asked The Independent to apologise and correct its reporting regarding Tim Martin’s statement. 

During the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr. Martin did not inform Wetherspoon employees that their salaries would be halted. Instead, all staff members received their regular payments on the scheduled date, Friday, March 27, 2020, for work completed up to March 22 or 23, 2020.

After the shutdown of pubs on March 20, 2020, Wetherspoon communicated via email to its employees on March 25, 2020, ensuring that furlough payments would commence from April 3, 2020. These payments were to be made weekly for weekly-paid staff and on the 27th of each month for salaried staff.

Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said: “In 2020, the Independent newspaper made a number of false claims about Wetherspoon, which it corrected, following representations from Wetherspoon's legal department. Unfortunately, apparently unaware of the previous corrections, the Independent repeated the same false allegations in December 2023. We are pleased that the Independent has now published a fifth correction. We are glad to be able to help slow learners at the Independent.”

J D Wetherspoon (JDW) share price. 

JD Wetherspoon's (JDW) share price edged 1.15% higher to trade at 835.5p from Friday’s closing price of 826.0p.