Greene King sees general improvement

31st Jan 2011 07:09

Brewer and pub owner Greene King saw healthy trading over the past eight weeks despite the poor weather with all of its divisions in-line or improving from the half-year.The snow hit trade ahead of Christmas, but since then it has been better than last year. The managed pub business saw like-for-like (LFL) sales rise by 3.9% overall in the 38 weeks to 23 January. Belhaven in Scotland rose by 3.6% lfl and Hungry Horse by 10.3%. Food sales overall rose by 8.2%, while margins in the retail division are also up slightly In the tenanted business, earnings per pub rose by 0.6%, with an average increase of 1.9%. Brewing volumes fell by 3.3% against a market decline of 7.6%. Volume for its core brands, Greene King , Old Speckled Hen, and Abbot Ale, dropped by 1.0%.Greene King has also bought Midlands and the North-based Cloverleaf Restaurants for £55.8m. Based on the twelve sites that will be trading at the end of this financial year, this is equivalent to 8.7x annualised outlet earnings.Greene King says the acqusition wil help it cash in on the growing carvery market. There is a strong pipeline of new sites with a minimum of ten additional outlets expected to open within two years."Despite the challenges posed by the inclement weather across December, trading across the business remains strong, and we are confident that we will continue to deliver profitable growth over the rest of the financial year," Greene King added.