Pub group Greene King has produced another encouraging trading update for the 49 weeks to 11 April, which suggest a recovery is becoming established.
Especially encouraging are concrete signs of improvement at the group's tenanted trading division. Management says it now expects support for tenants to be less than £6m this year compared with previous guidance of £6m-£6.5m.
Overall trading was broadly in line with expectations with good progress reported from the managed-pub business as well as brewing and the group's Scottish operation, Belhaven.
One question that is yet to be answered about Greene King's strategy is how it will invest the remainder of the proceeds from its rights issue, about 40 per cent of which has been spent so far. With the pub property market improving rapidly it is becoming harder to find the bargain deals the group originally set out to exploit.
Price: 418p
When: 15 Oct 2009
Performance: +8%
