Good Christmas but snow hits Greene King

Jan 27 2010 By nebusiness

Pubs and brewing group Greene King today reported "very strong" Christmas trading but said sales suffered a setback in January’s snow storms.

Like-for-like sales across its managed pubs - which include Old English Inns and the Hungry Horse chain - were up 5% in the 35 weeks to January 3, but this slowed to 4.3% three weeks later thanks to the poor weather.

Greene King saw buoyant trading over the two-week period, helping the group produce "profitable growth despite the challenging conditions".

But the Suffolk-based firm warned that sales growth would ease as the year progressed due to tough trading comparisons and the return of VAT to 17.5% this month.