Food sales boost Greene King

8th Sep 2009 07:07

Strong food sales helped pub group and brewer Greene King post a healthy rise in like-for-like sales in the 17 weeks to 30 August.The firm, which brews Abbot Ale and Old Speckled Hen and sells them at its pubs, said like-for-like sales were up by 4.6%, with food operations seeing growth of 8.1%. Sales at Belhaven, the group's chain of pubs in Scotland, were up 10.9%.Greene King added that margins have stayed strong across its pubs.'The consumer recovery is fragile and there are numerous risks to current levels of consumer spending, particularly for the second half of our financial year, including rising unemployment and taxes, slowing wage growth and increasing debt repayments,' the firm said. 'However, our businesses are undoubtedly stronger now than they were before the consumer downturn and our people remain highly motivated to deliver outstanding performance. '