Greene King profits up, new year starts well

1st Jul 2010 07:42

Brewer Greene King saw profits rise for the year and said current year's trading is ahead of expectations. Pre-tax profit rose to £101.9m from £54.3m on revenue that increased 3.1% to £984.1m, helped in particular by the 3.5% growth in its retail business. "These results highlight the strength, agility and resilience of Greene King. We have delivered record revenue in an uncertain and challenging environment, making good progress in all of our businesses," said chief executive Rooney Anand.The group said it has continued to trade strongly in the first eight weeks of the new financial year to 27 June. Retail like-for-like sales are up 6% and Belhaven retail sales 1.5% higher. Brewing Company total volumes are up 3.6%, own-brewed volumes are down 2.7% and Belhaven Best volumes have surged 7.1%. "The overall Greene King performance in the first two months of the year has been encouraging and ahead of our expectations for the period," it said. But it added that given the possible impact of the emergency budget on consumer spending, trading conditions are likely to remain challenging.Dividend per share rose 2.4% to 21.5p.