Record-breaking Christmas for Greene King
Like-for-like sales over the three weeks during Christmas were up 4.5% compared with the same period last year, resulting in mammoth sales of £7.4m (up 6% year on year).
Further progress has been made on the Spirit Pub Company integration, with more than 1,000 pubs now converted.
Reaching target on pub acquisitions
Greene King reached its target of 11 new pub acquisitions, comprising six Farmhouse Inns and five Hungry Horse sites.
So far this year, 59 Greene King pubs have been sold, including tenanted, for c£35m.
It is estimated a further 50 to 60 pubs will be sold this year for up to £40m.
Like-for-like net income across Greene King's tenanted sites rose by 3.5% in the 40 weeks to 5 February.
Drinking out spend up
Despite the progress made across Greene King's estate, the company's brewing business saw a 3.8% decline in own-brewed volume sales.
Greene King's monthly leisure tracker reported drinking out spend was up year on year in December compared with the year before.
In November, Greene King revealed 24 of its licensees had requested a quote for the market-rent-only (MRO) option in the first three months of the pubs code.
Earlier this month (February) Greene King lawyers wrote to Secretary of State for the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Greg Clark, calling for an amendment on stocking rights in the pubs code.
