FDBusiness.com

Reflecting strong growth from its retail, brewing and brands businesses, Greene King increased turnover by 6% to £1.04b last year, to exceed the billion pound mark for the first time, and profit before tax and exceptional items also reached a record level, up 13.8% to £140.0m. The UK regional brewer and pub group’s operating profit advanced 5.1% to £222.0m with a healthy operating margin of 21.3%.

Green King operates 2,429 pubs and restaurants across England, Wales and Scotland, of which 915 are retail pubs and restaurants and 1,514 are tenanted or leased pubs. Its leading retail brands are Hungry Horse, Old English Inns, Eating Inn and Loch Fyne Restaurants. 95% of the estate is either freehold or long leasehold.

Greene King also brews ale brands at its Bury St. Edmunds and Dunbar breweries. Its leading ale brands are Greene King IPA, the leading cask ale in the UK, Old Speckled Hen, the top premium ale in the UK, Abbot Ale, the first ranked premium cask ale in the UK and Belhaven Best, the number one ale brand in Scotland.

“Our retail business continues to spearhead our growth, as we increase our share of the eating out market,” says Rooney Anand, chief executive of Greene King. “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.”