Greene King reports profit fall amid ‘challenging' trading conditions

Greene King has said it expects the pub trading environment to "remain challenging for some time" as it reports a 11.2% drop in adjusted pre-tax profits.

The brewer and pub company saw revenue fall 1.8% year on year to £2.1b with adjusted pre-tax profits of £243m for the 52 weeks to 29 April 2018.

Pub company like-for-like sales fell by 1.2%, excluding the impact of snow earlier this year.

But, the last eight weeks have seen a 2.2% rise in like-for-like sales following a period of good weather and sporting fixtures including the World Cup.

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. Our investment to improve the customer experience in our pubs and the focus on our strategic priorities are beginning to pay off. Positive momentum, both in terms of trading and customer satisfaction, is returning to our business.

"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.

"We expect the trading environment to remain challenging for some time, but we strongly believe people will continue to choose the great British pub as the place to enjoy time with friends and family."

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