Mother's Day gives Greene King sales boost in fourth quarter

30th Apr 2014 07:51

Pubs, restaurants and hotels group Greene King said it registered 'continued strong trading momentum' with its 22nd consecutive quarter of like-for-like (LFL) sales growth in the fourth quarter.The company noted "good growth" on key events such as Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Easter which all fell in the last 16 weeks of the financial year.On Mother's Day in particular, Greene King served a single-day record of 262,000 food covers with LFL sales on that day rising 17.1%.Total Retail LFL sales were up 4.8% in the last 16 weeks of the financial year to April 27th, bringing full-year LFL growth to 4.1%. Analysts at Shore Capital had expected full-year LFL sales to rise by a lesser 3.75%.Food LFL sales were up 5% during the year, while room LFL sales were 6.8% higher and drink LFL sales rose 3.2%."Looking ahead, we see the UK's economic outlook improving. Throughout the downturn wage growth lagged inflation but this quarter has seen that change for the first time since the recession began, which bodes well for the future," said Chief Executive Rooney Anand."Customers, though, are still spending carefully, as highlighted by our most recent Leisure Spend Tracker report. Hence we remain cautiously optimistic for the forthcoming financial year."   BC