Greene King Regulatory News (GNK)

10 February 2016

GREENE KING plc

TRADING STATEMENT

Greene King announces its trading statement for the 40 weeks to 7 February 2016.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Greene King Retail like-for-like (LFL) sales up 2.2%, Spirit Managed LFL sales up 1.1%

• In the two Christmas weeks, LFL sales grew 5.0% in Greene King & 5.2% in Spirit

• Pub Partners LFL net income up 2.5%

• Brewing & Brands own-brewed volume (OBV) up 3.9%

• Spirit integration progressing well; encouraging performance in rebranded trial sites

Rooney Anand, chief executive officer, said:

"This was another strong performance, with all divisions trading well during the important festive period, and record trading on Christmas Day. The latest Greene King Leisure Spend Tracker shows that, despite varying their choices when eating out, pubs were a major destination for customers. Our positive trading results are a testament to the hard work and dedication of our teams who gave our guests great experiences, with value, service and quality central to our offer.

I am pleased to report continued progress with the Spirit integration, including encouraging signs from our rebranded trial sites thus far, and continued progress in terms of synergy delivery. Our focus remains on the development and continuous enhancement of our core Greene King business while successfully integrating Spirit, to create the UK's leading pub company."

TRADING

Combined Retail sales were up 67% after 40 weeks benefitting from a 33 week contribution from Spirit and 6% growth at Greene King.

In the Greene King estate, LFL sales were up 2.2%, led by Locals Pubs and our hotels, with growth in food, drink and rooms. LFL sales grew by 1.1% in the Spirit Managed business, where we saw continued strength in Chef & Brewer.

We achieved record sales of £6.8m on Christmas Day in the combined Retail estate which was led by food and included a record pub trading day of £19k at the Farmhouse Inn in Ashton-under-Lyme. Over the Christmas and New Year weeks, Prosecco volumes were up 69% while Premium Gin grew 77%, and at New Year a record 4,447 drinks per minute were sold in the last hour of 2015.

In addition to the ongoing strong growth in the underlying Retail business, we opened 10 new sites in our combined Retail estate in the year to date.

Following the successful integration of the Spirit leased business at the end of the first half, Pub Partners performed well with LFL net income up 2.5% - an improvement on the trend seen at the half year. Individual pubs had a great Christmas with five sites from our turnover agreement estate achieving sales of over £40k in the Christmas week.

Our disposal programme is on track, with 33 Pub Partners disposals so far this year.

In Brewing & Brands, own-brewed volume was up 3.9%. Growth was driven by Greene King IPA and Old Speckled Hen. Greene King IPA has been helped by its popularity surge in China and the distribution from within the Spirit managed estate. In addition, we recently announced that Greene King IPA is now the official beer of England cricket.

OUTLOOK

Overall, our expectations for the full year are unchanged. Despite the current global economic uncertainty, we remain confident that we will deliver further value to our guests and shareholders by continuing to develop and enhance the existing Greene King business while successfully integrating Spirit.

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

• Greene King was founded in 1799 and is headquartered in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. It currently employs around 42,000 people across its main trading businesses; Retail, Pub Partners and Brewing & Brands.

• It operates c. 3,000 pubs, restaurants and hotels across England, Wales and Scotland, of which c. 1,800 were retail pubs, restaurants and hotels, and c. 1,200 were tenanted, leased and franchised pubs. Its leading retail brands and formats include Hungry Horse, Farmhouse Inns, Chef & Brewer, Flaming Grill and Loch Fyne Seafood & Grill. 83% 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.