Greene King toasts strong Christmas trading
Pub and brewing group Greene King saw its retail like-for-like sales climb by 5% in the six weeks to 5 January 2014.
In the two weeks over Christmas and the New Year, like-for-like retail sales growth was even higher at 6.3% with the group selling a record 62,000 meals on Christmas Day.
Greene King chief executive Rooney Anand said: “Trading over the important Christmas and New Year period has been very strong with all of our businesses performing well, driven by the strength of our seasonal offers and our continued focus on delivering industry-leading value, service and quality to our customers.
“Retail like-for-like sales over the two most important trading weeks of the year were up over 6% and we sold a record 62,000 meals on Christmas Day. This drove record retail sales on Christmas Day of £3.1 million, up over 12% on the previous year. New Year’s Eve was also very strong with retail sales up 10% to £4.5 million.”
Never Miss a Retail Update!Over the six weeks to 5 January, food sales grew by 5.8% on a like-for-like basis while room sales rose by 12.5% and drink sales by 3.9%.
The strong Christmas trading meant that like-for-like retail sales in the 36 weeks to 5 January 2014 rose by 3.8%. Pub Partners continued to trade well with the average EBITDA per pub up 5.6% after 36 weeks.
Greene King has added a net 28 new sites to its retail estate in the year-to-date.
Looking ahead, the group said: “Overall, our expectations for profit, cashflow and our balance sheet are unchanged and we remain confident that we will continue to provide growth in earnings and dividends, and improving returns, to our shareholders.”
