JD Wetherspoon has cancelled dividend payments and reduced capital expenditure on new openings as the pub operator focuses on increasing cash flow to meet a $140m (£87m) loan repayment due in September.

Although trading at the group remained robust, John Hutson, chief executive, said the deepening reluctance by banks to lend meant there was an element of uncertainty over whether the group could refinance the loan on suitable terms. “So rather than be forced into refinancing at very unattractive rates, we now have the fall-back position of being able to repay the loan in full out of cash flow and our existing facilities,” he said.