Greene King sees profits fall by £243m

Pub group Greene King has seen an 11.2% drop, equivalent to £243m, in its adjusted profits before tax for the 52 weeks to 29 April 2018.

The group also saw its revenue fall by 1.8% as it admitted it was experiencing a “challenging trading environment”.

Like-for-like sales at the group were down by 1.2% excluding the impact caused by sales. It also saved £44m through its mitigation programme and Spirit synergies

Greene King also said that its customer services scores had improved during that period.

The company’s like-for-like sales have increased by 2.2% over the past eight weeks which it said was aiding by good weather and sporting events.

Rooney Anand, chief executive officer, said: “We made good progress improving the performance of the business during the second half of the year, despite a challenging trading environment.

“While it is still early days, this positive momentum has continued into the new financial year, aided by good weather and popular sporting events. We remain focused on continuing to drive top-line growth, developing a more efficient organisation and further strengthening our capital structure to deliver long-term value creation for our shareholders.”