JD Wetherspoon had a ball during Euro 2012 and Queen's Diamond Jubilee In a trading update that also warned of cost pressures from "Government legislation," the company revealed that like-for-like sales in the 11 weeks to July 8 rose 6.1pc. In the 50 weeks to July 8, like-for-like sales rose 3pc. Wetherspoon saw "particularly strong trading" around the Jubilee at the beginning of June and football's European Championships, which ended on July 1. The latter was helped by England's progression to the quarter-finals of the tournament, as fans chose to watch matches in pubs rather than at home. Since the start of the financial year, in August 2011, the company has opened 40 new pubs and closed three. It intends to open approximately 20 to 30 pubs in the next financial year. James Hollins, an analyst at Investec, said: "Wetherspoon has reported a better than expected Q4 performance. This has been driven by solid underlying growth [we estimate around 2pc] and the net benefit of both Jubilee and Euro 2012 events. In our view, the growth demonstrates the resilience of the group's core customer base, as well as the attraction of Wetherspoon's units to both returning and new consumers during major events. This provides the estate with core revenue stability, limited trading downside potential [eg during sustained periods of poor weather], and the ability to benefit from demand upside during exceptional trading events such as sports tournaments. Expecting "a reasonable outcome" for the financial year, the statment also poured scorn on the "continuing cost pressures resulting from Government legislation, including increases in excise duty, business rates and carbon tax." In the past, Wetherspoon founder and chairman Tim Martin has regularly criticised the Coalition's "pernicious" regulations. It was estimated in March that 44pc of revenues were going straight to the Treasury. The company said it expects to report an operating margin for the second half of 8.5pc and a corporation tax rate for the year of around 28pc. The shares fell 0.3pc to 420.3p in early trading.