* To ship 50,000 IPA cases to China following Xi Jinpingvisit
* Raises savings forecast from Spirit deal to 35 mln stg
* First-half pretax profit rises 47 pct to 121.3 mln stg
* Stock rises 10 pct, top gainer on FTSE's midcap index (Adds details, CEO, analyst comment, updates share price)
By Esha Vaish
Dec 2 (Reuters) - Greene King Plc, enlarged by itsacquisition of Spirit Pub, posted a better-than-expectedhalf-year profit as more Britons dined out and drank the caskales sold at its 3,000-plus pubs, restaurants and hotels.
Shares of Greene King, which brews ales such as Old SpeckledHen, rose as much as 10 percent on Wednesday and were on trackfor their biggest one-day gain since January 2009.
The Suffolk-based brewer also said it is shipping 50,000cases of its Greene King IPA to China, where its India pale alehas surged in popularity since President Xi Jinping drank a pintwith British Prime Minister David Cameron during a recent visitto the UK.
Greene King's 774 million-pound acquisition of Spirit Pub,the biggest deal in its 216-year history, is helping the companyto better compete with rivals such as Marston's Plc,Mitchells & Butlers Plc and J D Wetherspoon Plc.
Many of the old Spirit brands, such as Hungry Horse andFlaming Grill, were among the first to put an emphasis onserving food. These 'food-led' pubs tend to make more money thanoutlets where drinks account for a larger proportion of sales.
Citing better deals from suppliers, Chief Executive RooneyAnand said Greene King now expected the Spirit acquisition toyield savings of 35 million pounds ($53 million), more than itsinitial guidance of 30 million pounds.
Christmas bookings have been strong, Anand told Reuters.
After adjusting for exceptional items, pretax profit rose 47percent to 121.3 million pounds for the 24 weeks ended Oct. 18.Analysts on average had expected pretax profit of 102.4 millionpounds, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The Spirit acquisition was not the only reason for theincrease: like-for-like retail sales rose 2 percent, with theRugby World Cup helping to bring in more customers.
At least three analysts raised their full-year profit orearnings per share expectations for Greene King. Numis hiked itsfull-year pretax profit forecast to 251 million pounds from 241million pounds.
"The song goes that the first step is the hardest, butGreene King has made it look easy," Canaccord Genuity analystswrote in a note. "Greene King is now a much better investmentproposition."
Greene King's stock was up 9.4 percent at 931 pence at 1200GMT, making it the top gainer on the FTSE-250 midcap index. ($1 = 0.6633 pounds) (Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bengaluru; Editing by Anand Basuand Robin Paxton)
