GREENE King, owner of Scottish brewer Belhaven, has called on the UK Government to harmonise its alcohol minimum pricing plans with those of Scotland as it posted a record £152 million pre-tax profit for last year.
The comments from Suffolk-based Greene King show that the drinks industry is deeply split on the issue of minimum pricing with spirits companies and retailers generally against it while some in the pubs industry believe it will make them more competitive.
Rooney Anand, Greene King's chief executive, said: "North and south of the Border minimum pricing is a good thing.
"Where the price is set needs to be balanced carefully so that it is not so high that it hurts consumers: that would be crass in any environment, particularly this environment.
"But it has to have some impact otherwise there is no point in doing it. It has to curtail the speed and volume of consumption we believe unnecessarily low pricing leads to."
However, he warned that the 40p per unit level proposed by Westminster "will not have enough of a positive societal impact". He added: "We recommend the UK Government looks to harmonise minimum unit pricing with Scotland, at 50p per unit."
The policy, which would push up the price of cheaper drinks and some higher-strength products, is expected to come into force in Scotland next April.
However, some parts of the alcohol industry are seeking to challenge the move through European institutions.
Greene King, which bought Belhaven for £187m in 2005, saw revenues climb 9.4% to £1.1 billion in the year to April 29 during which it snapped up London-based Capital Pub Company.
Pre-tax earnings, which excluded a £22.1m write-down of the value of some of its hardest-hit pubs and a £5.8m hit from acquisitions, rose 8.6% to £152m.
The company said current trading is "strong" with like-for-like sales in its directly-managed operation up 7% in the last eight weeks.
Greg Johnson, analyst at Shore Capital, said this was a "robust" performance.
Greene King sold 103 sites over the year leaving it with 1380 pubs. It plans to cut this to 1200 by 2014.
Belhaven was integrated with the rest of the business in the last year which Greene King said had given it greater pricing power.
In its directly-managed division, which includes 105 pubs in Scotland, operating profit was up 13.3% at £149.6m as food sales rose.
"Scotland has traded well", Mr Anand said.
Conditions are tougher in its leased and tenanted estate, which includes 250 outlets north of the Border.
Around 180 pubs in the Scottish estate have been given "price support" in recent months, in which they get special deals allowing them to sell lager for as little as £1.99 a pint as well as special deals on wine and soft drinks.
Mr Anand said this was targeted at pubs in areas with tough price competition.
Operating profit in the tenanted division fell 3.1% to £72.2m albeit with 6.2% fewer pubs. Operating profit at its brewing arm fell 0.3% to £33m although volumes of Belhaven were up 3.9%.
Mr Anand said Greene King had benefited from the Diamond Jubilee and the Euro 2012 football championships, especially as England progressed further than the company had anticipated. "We didn't factor them getting out of the group stage. Maybe the Scottish Belhaven influence is rubbing off on us," he joked.
However, he said the weather in June has been "disastrous".
Mr Anand said: "Looking further ahead, our customers' spending will continue to be squeezed and concerns remain about job security."
Greene King announced a final dividend of 18.1p per share, up 7.7% from 16.8p last year.
Greene King's shares firmed 4.5p, or 0.8%, to 536p.
Meanwhile, Punch Taverns, which has some 300 pubs in Scotland, said it was on target to meet full year profit expectations despite being hit by weather.
It said like-for-like income in its core estate was down 6.4% year-on-year in the 12 weeks to May 26.
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