Its Pub Partners arm saw a 2.8% rise in net income while own-brewed volume in Brewing & Brands was up 5.2%.
The company said a 7% rise (3.5% like-for-like growth) in Christmas bookings, to 780,000, had helped it to achieve record Retail sales of £3.4m on Christmas Day, including a record single site trading day of £15.5k at the Farmhouse Inn in Castleford.
The company said the performance was in line with expectations against a strong period the year before. It also said slower trading in Scotland, due to a combination of the new drink-driving laws and poorer weather, had affected performance. It said excluding Scotland, Retail like-for-like sales were up 0.6% in the last six weeks. The Christmas period was up against growth of 6.4% in the same period last year.
'Tough'
Chief executive Rooney Anand, said: “Sales were encouraging in our retail business over the important two weeks covering Christmas and the New Year, despite a very tough comparative from last year and softer trading in Scotland, following the introduction of tougher drink-driving laws. Outside of those weeks, trading was more volatile, with the weeks before Christmas slightly down on the previous year and soft trading since the New Year.
“This performance was delivered in a continued challenging environment, as highlighted by the most recent Greene King Leisure Tracker, which reported an 8% year-on-year fall in household leisure spending in November.
Spirit deal
“We are delighted that last week Greene King and Spirit Pub Company shareholders overwhelmingly voted in favour of the proposed transaction between our two companies. This will create the UK’s leading managed pub company and deliver significant shareholder value through material synergy generation and anticipated earnings accretion.
"The exact timing of the completion of the deal remains uncertain but we are working closely with the Competition and Markets Authority and expect the deal to complete by the end of the first half of 2015.”
Greene King’s best performing pub brands over the last six weeks were Metropolitan, which it said reflected the ongoing strength of the London market, and the more food-led brands including Farmhouse Inns.
The company said brewing volumes were up 3.7% in the last six weeks. Growth continued to be driven by take home and export channels, and by Old Speckled Hen.