Despite such headwinds as high alcohol duty, tough consumer conditions and cheap supermarket booze, pub operator and brewer Greene King is coping well. Indeed, adjust for £20m in impairments related to some properties, as well as expenses from August's acquisition of the London Capital Pub Company, and underlying pre-tax profit rose 5.6 per cent year-on-year to £77m.
The food offering's performance is especially noticeable. Like-for-like food sales growth of 4.9 per cent helped boost the retail division's turnover 12 per cent to £368m - it now generates 70 per cent of group sales and the unit's total underlying sales rose 3.8 per cent. Meanwhile, the cash-generative brewing business - which sells 80 per cent of its output to pubs outside the group's estate - saw sales rise 8.5 per cent in the period to £83.1m, with operating profits here up 4.5 per cent to £16.3m. Chief executive Rooney Anand said the company would also be continuing its capital spending programme - the group invested £37.6m in the existing estate during the period, compared with £28.6m last year.
Evolution Securities forecasts adjusted full-year pre-tax profit of £149.7m, giving EPS of 51.8p (£140m and 48.1p in 2011).
GREENE KING (GNK) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
ORD PRICE: | 471p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.02bn | |
TOUCH: | 470-473 | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 519p | LOW: 402p |
DIVIDEND YIELD: | 4.7% | PE RATIO: | 13 | |
NET ASSET VALUE: | 428p* | NET DEBT: | 161% |
Half-year to 16 Oct | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | 484 | 60.0 | 24.2 | 6.3 |
2011 | 527 | 56.7 | 22.4 | 6.7 |
% change | +9 | -6 | -7 | +6 |
Ex-div:19 Dec Payment: 27 Jan *Includes intangible assets of £730m, or 338p a share |