Strong first half at Greene King

3rd Dec 2010 07:13

Pub group and brewer Greene King posted record first half revenues as Scottish subsidiary Belhaven and its retail division stormed ahead.Underlying profits in the half year to Mid-October jumped 17% to £73.1m, from £62.4m, on sales up 4.2% to £484m. Pre-tax profits were £60m against £51.2m.Like-for-like revenues rose by 3.8%, against the previous year's 4.6%, but Greene King says it is maintaining this growth in the second half with like-for-like sales up by 3.7%.Belhaven and the retail arm were the star performers, both lifting profits by about 10%. Brewing pofits rose by 3% while the tenanted divison saw a 1% decline."This has been a successful first half for Greene King. We have achieved record interim revenues while growing both profits and margins, driven by industry-leading Retail like-for-like sales growth, further profit improvement in Pub Partners, another record performance for Belhaven and share gains in Brewing," chief executive Rooney Anand said. "Current trading remains strong, with Christmas bookings comfortably ahead of last year. Although we expect more challenging conditions in 2011, we are confident that we will continue to trade well and deliver strong financial results," he added.The interim dividend rises by 6.8% to 6.3p.