LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Greene King plc. (GNK.L) reported like-for-like sales growth of 1.1% in the first 40 weeks of the year. Excluding Fayre & Square, like-for-like sales were up 1.6%. Over the last 16 weeks, the company has seen a strong Christmas trading period alongside the usual quieter months of November and January. LFL sales over the three Christmas weeks were up 4.5%, despite tough comparisons with the previous Christmas. Sales were driven by particularly strong growth in London. The company said it again broke its record for Christmas Day with sales of 7.4 million pounds, up 6.0% on the previous year. LFL net income in Pub Partners was up 3.5% after 40 weeks, maintaining its strong performance this year. In a cask ale market down 3.8%, own-brewed volume (OBV) in Brewing & Brands was down 4.2%.
Further progress was made on the Spirit integration with over 1,000 pubs now converted to the 'best of both' Pub Company IT system and ongoing synergy savings realised.
So far this year, the company has sold 59 pubs across both Pub Company and Pub Partners for total proceeds of about 35 million pounds. It anticipates disposing a further 50-60 pubs this year, raising proceeds of about 30 million pounds-40 million pounds.
Looking ahead, despite continued economic uncertainty and significant cost pressures, the company said it will remain focused on building retail pub brands, delivering great experiences to guests and completing the Spirit integration. It is confident that the combined strength of its brands, pubs, people and cash generation leaves it well placed to deliver another year of progress, value creation and returns for its shareholders.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX