Greene King ploughs ahead through the freeze

27th Jan 2010 07:23

Brewer Greene King's trading over the last nine weeks has remained 'relatively strong' despite the freezing weather, with food sales going well and Scottish arm Belhaven again the star turn.After 38 weeks, Greene King Retail like-for-like sales were 4.3% higher. Up to the end of week 35, like-for-like sales were up 5.0%, slightly ahead of previously reported trends. Christmas and like-for-like food sales growth were very strong, though total like-for-like sales growth will moderate through the rest of the financial year.Tenanted arm Pub Partners also picked up. Average EBITDA per pub was down 4.9% over the past 36 weeks but trading in the second half of the year, since 18 October, was only 0.8% lower. This improvement is being driven by stronger beer sales trends. Licensee support will be between £6.0m and £6.5m in this financial year.Brewing volumes were up 7.2% after 38 weeks, but Greene King expects this to moderate in the second half of this financial year.Belhaven's Retail LFL sales growth was 7.4%, well ahead of the market, underlying tenanted profit per pub was broadly in line with last year and Belhaven Best volume growth maintained at 14.9%. Greene King also announced the acquisition of a further eight freehold, managed pubs from Punch Taverns for a total consideration of £15.9m."While the UK consumer outlook is still uncertain, we are confident that we will meet the board's expectations for this financial year," the statement concluded.