Pubs group Greene King delivers subdued Christmas update

19th Jan 2015 07:36

Pub operator and brewer Greene King said sales over the key Christmas period were "encouraging", though trading before and after the festive season was mixed.The company, whose shareholders have voted in favour of the proposed tie-up with Spirit Pub Company, also said it expects the deal to complete by the end of the first half of 2015, pending regulatory approval.Retail like-for-like (LFL) sales over Christmas and the New Year were up 2%, the group said, despite tough comparatives with the year before and softer trading in Scotland following the introduction of tougher drunk-driving laws.However, LFL sales over the six weeks to 11 January as a whole were flat year-on-year.Chief executive Rooney Anand said: "Outside of those [festive] weeks, trading was more volatile, with the weeks before Christmas slightly down on the previous year and soft trading since the New Year."He said the performance was delivered amid a "continued challenging environment" with the most recent Green King Leisure Tracker showing a 8% year-on-year fall in household leisure spending in November.As such, LFL sales for the first 36 weeks of the financial year grew by only 0.6%.