‘Beast from the East’ hits Greene King sales

Greene King Pubs were hit by a fall in like-for-like (LFL) sales for the 49 weeks to 8 April.

The pub company LFL sales were -1.8%, with the weather over the last 12 weeks impacting trading.

The company reported that destination food-led pubs and on an underlying basis, excluding the impact of snow, LFL sales in the year-to-date were -1.2%.

Both drink and accommodation LFL sales were ahead of last year.

Trading over Easter was strong with LFL sales up 2.8% against the Easter weekend last year, helped by strong sporting fixtures, especially football and boxing.

After 48 weeks, LFL net profit in Pub Partners was -0.3% while own-brewed volumes in Brewing & Brands were -0.7%.