INVESTORS have raised a glass to a bumper festive season at Greene King, sending shares up nearly six per cent soaring after the pub giant reported its best-ever Christmas Day and signalled confidence in its trading outlook despite Brexit uncertainty.
The owner of Dunbar’s Belhaven Brewery and scores of pubs in Scotland rang up sales worth a record £7.7 million on December 25. That came as like-for-like sales in its dominant managed pubs division climbed by 10.9 per cent in the last two weeks, covering Christmas and New Year.
Greene King, which has been a major player in Scotland since acquiring Belhaven in 2005, said all sales categories saw like-for-like growth in the last six weeks, with strong growth in drinks sales in its branded Local Pubs.
Strong festive trading helped like-for-like sales to rise by 3.2% in the 36 weeks to January 6.
The update comes amid an ongoing cost reduction programme at the Suffolk-based firm, which is on the hunt for a new chief executive as long-standing boss Rooney Anand prepares to depart in April. The firm said it is on track to offload between 100 and 110 pubs and open nine in its current financial year, and to keep net cost inflation in the region of £10m to £20m.
READ MORE: Greene King boss to step down in spring
Greene King has total pub estate of around 2,800 outlets, about 1,700 of which are directly-managed pubs, restaurants and hotels. Around 1,000 are tenanted, leased and franchised pubs.
Alasdair Ronald, senior
investment manager at Brewin Dolphin Scotland, said while the update contained “Christmas cheer”, he warned that profits are “under pressure due to rising wage, good, business rates and energy cuts – not to mention Brexit’s effect on consumer confidence”.
“However, Greene King has a large managed estate and some good brand – any significant recovery in consumer confidence could benefit the group further down the line,” he added.
Greene King said: “While the ongoing uncertainty around Brexit may still have an impact on consumer confidence and spending during the year, we remain confident of our outlook for the financial year.
“We remain focused on our strategic priorities of driving profitable sales growth, developing a more streamlined and efficient organisation, and further strengthening and improving the flexibility of our capital structure to deliver long-term value for our shareholders.”
Shares in Greene King closed up 30.8p at 584p.
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