Revenue was £1,194.7m, up 4.8%, and operating profit before exceptionals was £248.2m, up 5.1%. Profit before tax and exceptional items was £162m, up 6.6%.
Total Retail sales climbed 7.4% during the period, while Retail operating profit grew by 12.1%; margin increased 80 basis points to 19.4%. For the current period retail like-for-like sales are up by 3.3%.
Of the 2.3% lfl sales growth in the year, the company said 0.4% was driven by volume improvements and 1.9% by price, mix and spend per head improvements. It said that all major sales categories achieved growth with food LFL sales up 2.9%, drink LFL sales up 1.8% and room LFL sales up 3.1%. London performed well with Realpubs achieving 9.1% LFL sales growth.
Total revenue in Retail was £863.6m, up 7.4% on 3.5% more sites. As a result, the average weekly take grew 3.8% to £17.1k. Retail also achieved strong profit growth, with operating profit of £167.7m, up 12.1%.
It said that the operating margin improvement was driven by strong operational gearing, improved labour productivity, the delivery of acquisition synergies, and despite the weaker second half sales environment.
Retail food sales were up 9.7% to £336.9m. This took food's share of the group’s total sales to 40%, up 80bps on the previous year. Food LFL sales were up 2.9% with cover growth of 0.4%.
Average EBITDA per pub across its 1,269-strong leased Pub Partners estate climbed 4.2%, with core like-for-like EBITDA up 0.1%. On 8.8% fewer pubs, Pub Partners achieved revenue of £153.7m, down 5.5%. Revenue per pub was up 3.6%, with beer volume per pub in line and rent per pub ahead. EBITDA was £76.3m, down 4.9%.
It said that across its brewing & brands core own-brewed volume was up 1%, while revenue increased 2.1%.
On track
During the year, the group invested £35.3m on 24 new pubs and has exchanged or completed on a further 30 sites for development.
It said it remained focused on disposing of sites that it considered no longer have a long-term sustainable future within its estate. These mainly come from Pub Partners, from which the group disposed of 103 sites in the year. In total, the disposed properties raised proceeds of £28m.
The company has targeted 1,100 sites by 2015 and said it remained on track to achieve this.
Of its new additions 12 were single-site acquisitions, 12 were new build openings, including its first Hungry Horse leasehold site, and 14 were transfers from Pub Partners, including 11 Meet & Eat sites.
It said that these transfers are supporting the expansion of the Meet & Eat brand within Retail. In addition, the group said that its pipeline for further expansion is healthy and it has exchanged or completed on a further 30 sites.
Rooney Anand, Greene King chief executive, said: "This has been another successful year with record results and further, significant progress, led by our retail business, which has delivered 12% profit growth. Our strategy is on track and we have continued to provide exceptional value, service and quality to our customers. We achieved growth in both earnings and dividends, and further improvement in ROCE for our shareholders.
“We have made a strong start to the year, but the overall outlook remains subdued and we are not assuming a pick-up in the economy. However, our strategy is designed, and proven to be appropriate, for these conditions as we shift our business towards higher growth areas of our markets and constantly improve our customer offer. We are confident of maintaining this momentum and delivering further value to our shareholders."