(Corrects to remove reference to Hungry Horse as a Spirit brandin paragraph 10. It is a Greene King brand.)
* Expects to win market share despite Brexit vote
* Comparable retail sales up 2.8 pct since start of currentFY
* FY pretax profit beats consensus
* Shares rise as much as 5 pct, down 15 pct over last week
By Esha Vaish
June 29 (Reuters) - Brewer Greene King Plc expectsto win market share this year, despite the risk that Britain'svote to leave the European Union will deter people from drinkingand dining out at a time when pub firms are already fighting forevery pound in consumers' pockets.
CEO Rooney Anand said the company would be able to lure morecustomers as over 300 of its pubs were switching to morefood-driven formats, currently in vogue, and it had gainedpopular food brands by acquiring Spirit Pub Company last year.
Shares in Greene King, which brews ales such as Old SpeckledHen, rose as much as 5 percent on Wednesday, after full-yearprofit beat consensus, but by 1145 GMT were up just 0.26percent. They are down nearly 15 percent since last week'sBrexit vote, amid concerns about potential vulnerability to anyfall-off in consumer demand.
The company said like-for-like retail sales rose 2.8 percentover the first eight weeks of the current financial year, asbetter weather in May and England's involvement in the Europeansoccer championship drove many to its outlets despite reluctanceamong consumers to spend before the June 23 referendum.
The figure showed an acceleration in sales over the 1.5percent growth seen in the year to May 1, which had beaten the1.3 percent rise seen across the wider market.
"The opportunity that Spirit represents in bringing thebusiness together as we are doing, and having the strongeststable of brands and the biggest war chest, will give usopportunities that will enable us to take market share," Anandsaid.
He said Greene King's confidence about its ability tooutperform also stemmed from the fact that it had fared betterthan its peers after the 2008-9 financial crash.
Panmure Gordon analyst Anna Barnfather said the company'sintegration initiatives and its ownership of pub properties leftit "less operationally geared than many of its leasehold pub andrestaurant peers".
Greene King's 774 million-pound Spirit deal, the biggest inits 217-year history, has helped it better compete with rivalssuch as Marston's Plc, Mitchells & Butlers Plc and J D Wetherspoon Plc.
Spirit brands, such as Flaming Grill, were among the firstto increase their food offerings to satiate growing appetitesamong Britons to drink out less and instead opt for value mealsthat can also be bought at supermarkets and takeaway shops.
Boosted by Spirit synergies, full-year adjusted pretaxprofit grew 52.2 percent to 256.5 million pounds ($343.6million), beating analysts' consensus of 246.1 million poundsaccording to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Deutsche Bank analysts wrote that the company was in a"position of comparative strength to withstand any near-termdeclines in consumer sentiment".
Greene King, however, said that it expected some impact fromcurrency movements as it purchased some items from Europe andsome using dollars, and would give an update in December. ($1 = 0.7465 pounds) (Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nairand Mark Trevelyan)
