Greene King boosts annual profit but consumers stay cautious

3rd Jul 2014 07:31

A growing appetite among consumers for eating out in pubs helped Greene King to serve up tastier annual profits, although it warned that consumers were still cautious.Greene King, which owns the Hungry Horse pub restaurant chain, said a 5% rise in like-for-like food sales had driven a 4.1% increase in like-for-like sales in retail, its largest business, where profits rose 12%.The group also added 45 sites to the retail business, taking its estate to 1,032 pubs, including 226 Hungry Horse sites.Average pre-tax earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) per pub in its tenanted and leased pub business rose 5.2% while core like-for-like net income lifted 2.2%.The group, whose beers include Old Speckled Hen and Abbot Ale, increased its volume share of the UK ale market by 70 basis points to 11.3%. The brewing division increased core own-brewed volumes by 4.6% and profit by 1.3%.Group pre-tax profit before one-off items climbed 7.4% on a 52-week basis to £173.1m, with revenue up 6.9% to about £1.3bn.Chief Executive Rooney Anand said: "There are now clear signs that both the UK economic outlook and consumer confidence are improving, although consumers continue to spend cautiously."We see the pace of change in how people eat and drink out of home quickening and so we are shaping the business for the future."PW