Greene King reports strong Christmas trading

Pub group Greene King reported strong trading over the Christmas period on Friday as it sounded a confident note on its outlook.

In the 40 weeks to 5 February, like-for-like sales grew 1.1%. Excluding Fayre & Square, LFL sales were up 1.6% over the period.

Over the last 16 weeks, the company said it had seen strong Christmas trading, alongside the usual quieter months of November and January.

In the three weeks over Christmas, LFL sales were up 4.5%, despite tough comparisons with the previous Christmas, with sales driven by particularly strong growth in London. Greene King said it broke its record for Christmas Day again, with sales up 6% on the previous year to £7.4m.

LFL net income in Pub Partners was up 3.5% after 40 weeks, maintaining its strong performance this year. Meanwhile, in a cask ale market down 3.8%, own-brewed volume in Brewing & Brands was down 4.2%.

Greene King said it made further progress 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.

In addition, it reached its target of 11 new pub acquisitions, of which six were Farmhouse Inns and five were Hungry Horse. The company said its disposal programme accelerated in the second half as expected. So far this year, it has sold 59 pubs across both Pub Company and Pub Partners for total proceeds of around £35mm and expects to dispose of a further 50-60 pubs this year, raising proceeds of approximately £30-40m.

“Looking ahead, despite continued economic uncertainty and significant cost pressures, we will remain focused on building our retail pub brands, delivering great experiences to our guests and completing the Spirit integration. We are confident that the combined strength of our brands, pubs, people and cash generation leaves us well placed to deliver another year of progress, value creation and returns for our shareholders.”