jd wetherspoon plc said wednesday that it has experienced slower sales in the five weeks ended nov 6 than for the first nine weeks of the fiscal year but remains cautiously optimistic about future prospects the british pub chain said that likeforlike sales for the five weeks rose 89 compared with the same period a year earlier and were up 101 in the first nine weeks this takes likeforlike sales for the 14 weeks as a whole to 96 wetherspoon said that costs especially in respect of labour food and repairs were substantially higher for the period the company said that it has terminated most of its interest rate swaps receiving 1694 million pounds 1956 million after costs which has been used to reduce its debt net debt at nov 6 was gbp745 million compared with gbp892 million at july 31 sales have improved since the ending of restrictions in the early part of this calendar year and are considerably above the same period in the last financial year chairman tim martin said the company reported a return to positive cash flow in fy22 and anticipates a positive cash flow in the current year