Greene King profits remain on track

PUBS and brewing group Greene King said today it remained on track to achieve its expected profits for the year despite “more challenging” trading conditions.

The Bury St Edmunds company said the

Christmas and New Year period had seen improved trading compared with previous weeks, but while peak days showed growth year-on-year, trading on other days was “more subdued”.

Like-for-like sales across its managed house business for the 38 weeks to January 20 were in line with last year at minus 0.1%, although the Loch Fyne restaurant business, acquired in August, had a strong Christmas and New Year period and like-for-like sales were now 2.3% up since acquisition.

The tenanted and leased pubs division grew profits by 0.2% on a like-for-like basis, and Greene King said it was “very pleased” with progress at the New Century Inns acquisition, the integration of which was now complete.

The group's beer brands continued “to deliver sector-leading performance in a very difficult UK beer market”, with own-brewed volumes up by 6.5%.

And Belhaven, the group's integrated pubs and brewing business in Scotland, had performed strongly during the second year of the Scottish smoking ban with Belhaven Best volumes up 5.6% and managed pub like-for-like sales ahead of last year.

Greene King added that group margins remained ahead of last year, despite the “well-documented” cost pressures being faced by the industry as a whole, and its cashflow performance and balance sheet position were “healthy and in line with forecasts”.

Chief executive Rooney Anand said: “We expect the rest of the year to remain challenging. Nevertheless, the inherent strengths of our business, the resilience of our business model and the encouraging contributions from recent acquisitions give us confidence that our earnings expectations for the year to May 4 will be met.”