Greene King reports sales and profits up

Greene King, the Bury St Edmunds based pubco and brewer, has reported sales up 6% to £1.042bn with operating profits up 5.1% to £222m, for the year ending 1 May 2011.

Profit before tax and exceptional was 1£40m, up 13.8% on last year.

The preliminary results revealed like-for-like sales up 4.9% and food like-for-like sales up 8.1%. The company said its acquisition of both Cloverleaf and Realpubs fuelled expansion particularly in the food and premium sectors.

Food-related sales now account for 60% of total sales and over 36m meals sold.

The company started the year on 888 managed sites and ended with 915. The strategy of the company is to expand its retail estate to 1,100 while reducing the tenanted and leased business to around 1200 sites.

In the tenanted side of the business it reduced the number of pubs by 4% and grew average EBITDA per pub by 1.9%.

In its brewing division profit was up 4.1% led by growth in core brands.

Rooney Anand, Greene King chief executive, said: "This has been a very successful year for Greene King, delivering revenue of over £1bn for the first time, record profits and a 7.4% dividend increase. Our Retail business continues to spearhead our growth, as we increase our share of the eating out market. Our Retail expansion strategy is on track with our most recent acquisitions, Cloverleaf and Realpubs, trading well. Our teams across the business have delivered these results by giving our customers compelling value, service and quality and going forward, there are numerous opportunities for further growth.

"Looking ahead, we foresee another testing year. The UK economy continues to face inflationary pressures, impacting on both our customers' spending power and our cost base, and the impact of the government's cutbacks is still to take full effect. However, these results show, through our sales momentum, our Retail expansion strategy and our strong profit conversion, that we can continue to deliver attractive returns to our shareholders."