Greene King Regulatory News (GNK)

STRONG CHRISTMAS TRADING

 Trading statement for the 40 weeks to 5th February 2017

In the first 40 weeks of the year, Pub Company achieved like-for-like (LFL) sales growth of 1.1%. Excluding Fayre & Square, LFL sales were +1.6%. Over the last 16 weeks, we have seen a strong Christmas trading period alongside the usual quieter months of November and January.

LFL sales over the three Christmas weeks were up 4.5%, despite tough comparisons with the previous Christmas. Sales were driven by particularly strong growth in London. We again broke our record for Christmas Day with sales of £7.4m, up 6.0% on the previous year.

LFL net income in Pub Partners was up 3.5% after 40 weeks, maintaining its strong performance this year. In a cask ale market down 3.8%, own-brewed volume (OBV) in Brewing & Brands was down 4.2%.

Further progress was made on the Spirit integration with over 1,000 pubs now converted to the 'best of both' Pub Company IT system and ongoing synergy savings realised.

We also made further progress on the delivery of our estate plan. We reached our target of 11 new pub acquisitions, of which six were Farmhouse Inns and five were Hungry Horse. Our disposal programme accelerated in the second half as expected. So far this year, we have sold 59 pubs across both Pub Company and Pub Partners for total proceeds of c.£35m. We anticipate disposing a further 50-60 pubs this year, raising proceeds of c. £30-40m.

Looking ahead, despite continued economic uncertainty and significant cost pressures, we will remain focused on building our retail pub brands, delivering great experiences to our guests and completing the Spirit integration. We are confident that the combined strength of our brands, pubs, people and cash generation leaves us well placed to deliver another year of progress, value creation and returns for our shareholders.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

NOTES FOR EDITORS

· Greene King was founded in 1799 and is headquartered in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. It currently employs around 43,000 people across its main trading businesses; Pub Company, Pub Partners and Brewing & Brands.

· At the end of the half year, it operated 3,029 pubs, restaurants and hotels across England, Wales and Scotland, of which 1,823 were retail pubs, restaurants and hotels, and 1,206 were tenanted, leased and franchised pubs. Its leading retail brands and formats include Hungry Horse, Farmhouse Inns, Chef & Brewer, Flaming Grill and the Greene King Local Pubs estate. 84% of the estate is either freehold or long leasehold.

· Greene King also brews quality ale brands from its Bury St. Edmunds and Dunbar breweries, and is the UK's leading cask ale brewer and premium ale brewer. Its industry leading portfolio includes Greene King IPA, Old Speckled Hen, Abbot Ale and Belhaven Best.