Greene King saw like-for-likes sales in its managed Pub Company grow 1.1% in the 40 weeks to 5 February.
The company said that excluding Fayre & Square, like-for-like sales in the division were up 1.6% for the period.
The Pub Partners tenanted and leased arm has grown like-for-like sales by 3.5% in the year so far.
The group said it had seen “seen a strong Christmas trading period alongside the usual quieter months of November and January” with like-for-like sales over the three Christmas weeks up 4.5%. Greene King broke its record for Christmas Day again with sales of £7.4m, up 6% on the previous year.
Own-brewed volume fell 4.2% in a cask market that is generally down 3.8% over the period.
Further progress was made on the Spirit integration with over 1,000 pubs now converted to the ‘best of both’ Pub Company IT system and ongoing synergy savings realised.
Greene King reached its target of 11 new pub acquisitions, of which six were Farmhouse Inns and five were Hungry Horse.
So far this year, the group has sold 59 pubs across both Pub Company and Pub Partners for total proceeds of c.£35m. It anticipates disposing of a further 50-60 pubs this year, raising proceeds of c. £30-40m.
On the outlook, the group said: “Despite continued economic uncertainty and significant cost pressures, we will remain focused on building our retail pub brands, delivering great experiences to our guests and completing the Spirit integration. We are confident that the combined strength of our brands, pubs, people and cash generation leaves us well placed to deliver another year of progress, value creation and returns for our shareholders.”
