WETHERSPOONS

Wetherspoons

Wetherspoons

Introduction

Branding is seen as one of the canons of the marketing doctrine. Kotler et al. (1999, p. 571) have suggested that “perhaps the most distinctive skill of professional marketers is their ability to create, maintain, protect, reinforce and enhance brands” and Doyle (1998, p. 165) argues that ''brands are at the heart of marketing and business strategy”. Although the service sector has dominated the economy in most advanced Western nations for some time, service brands traditionally seem to have attracted much less attention than their product counterparts in the marketing literature (Krishnan and Hartline, 2001). That said, there is evidence of growing interest in various aspects of services brands (e.g. Blankson and Kalafatis, 1999; de Chernatoy and Segal-Horn, 2001). This paper looks to add to studies of service brands through a simple study of customers' perceptions of the J.D. Wetherspoons pub brand.

Financial Analysis of Wetherspoons

In its original sense a brand can be defined as a mark burned into anything with a hot iron and in some pre-modern societies branding was employed to distinguish ownership and identity of people, as slaves, of cattle and some commodities. Business historians agree that branding by businesses is over a century old (Rooney, 1995) and Palmer (2001) suggests that historically it assumed significance when economies of scale meant that producers were no longer able to provide customers with personal reassurances about product quality. Within marketing, branding has a more specific meaning and is typically defined as “a name, term, sign, symbol, design or a combination of these, which is used to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors” (Kotler et al., 1999, p. 571). The process of branding is generally seen to offer a range of perceived advantages and benefits for both buyers and sellers including providing images and information on quality; offering recognition, reassurance, security and exclusivity; contributing to brand image and identity; market segmentation; the mutual development and strengthening of trading relationships; and legal protection. While brands have long been close to the heart of marketing the principal focus has traditionally been on “product” rather than “services” brands. Until recently work on services brands and the branding of services seems to have attracted relatively little attention in either the general marketing or the specific services marketing literature. A number of important services marketing texts (e.g. Bateson, 1995; Lovelock et al., 1999; Baron and Harris, 1995) devote relatively little attention to this topic. From a commercial perspective de Chertnatoy and Segal Horn (2001) observe that only 23 per cent of the world's top brands are services brands, and that there are few models to help managers develop service brands.

Ratios For JD Wetherspoon PLC

Market Capitalisation

Market Cap (£ Millions)

597.59

Shares Outstanding

138.97

Float

104.71

Per Share Data (£ GBP)

Earnings

0.18

Sales

6.88

Book Value

1.21

Cash Flow

--

Cash

0.17

 

Valuation Ratios

Price/Earnings

23.60

Price/Sales

0.63

Price/Book

3.56

Price/Cash Flow

8.52

Management Effectiveness (%)

Return on Equity

14.53

Return on Assets

2.96

Return on Investment

3.83

 

Profitability Ratios (%)

Gross Margin

--

Operating Margin

7.86

Net Profit Margin

2.65

Dividend Information

Dividend Yield (%)

--

Dividend Per Share (£ GBP)

0.00

Payout Ratio

0.00

 

Financial Strength

Quick Ratio

0.16

Current Ratio

0.23

LT Debt/Equity

185.06

Total Debt/Equity

246.37

 

JD Wetherspoon PLC ...