Greene King's first half revenue rises on good summer weather

3rd Dec 2013 07:07

- Profits and revenues rise on summer weather- Retail sales boost earnings- Dividend raised 6.3 per cent Pub operator Greene King reported a 5.2 per cent rise in first half revenue of 595.4m pounds as the good summer weather offset consumer caution.Pre-tax profit in the 24 weeks to October 24th came to £85.6m, up 5.7% on the prior year, while adjusted earnings per share was up 6.35% to 30.4p.Operating profit increased 3.7% to £127.2m despite the operating margin falling 0.3 percentage points to 21.4%.Retail like-for-like sales up 3.5% as the retail margin jumped 10 basis points to 20.5%.Average earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) per pub grew 5.2% in Pub Partners. The Brewing and Brands division saw core own-brewed volume rise 1.7%.The dividend was raised 6.3% to 7.60p per share."This is a very pleasing set of figures and we have made great progress in the first half of this financial year," said Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rooney Anand. "Growth has once again been led by our retail business, which grew profits by 8% over last year, helped by a combination of organic growth and further strategic acquisitions. The tenanted and brewing businesses also performed well, helping the overall business to deliver healthy earnings, dividend growth and further improvement in our return on capital employed." During the period the company expanded its Retail business, spending £9.6m on acquiring 14 new sites and exchanging a further six sites for development. The company now has 1,008 Retail sites, up from 888 sites when the group started its expansion strategy.Greene King also disposed of sites that were no longer considered to have a long-term sustainable future. Most of the disposals were within Pub Partners, from which 59 sites were cut in the period.At the end of the period Pub Partners trading estate totalled 1,218 sites, down from a peak of 1,700. The disposed properties raised proceeds of £16.6m, just ahead of book value. Looking ahead the CEO added: "While trading through the first half of the year and since the period-end has been strong, and the economic outlook looks to be improving, customers remain careful with their money, particularly outside London and the South East. We believe that our strategy, tailored for these conditions, will continue to deliver growth and further value to our shareholders across the rest of this year and beyond." RD