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Brewer and pub owner Greene King (LON:GNK) has said that like-for-like sales at its pubs during the first 18 weeks of the year were up by 2.8%, beating the wider market which grew by 1.2%. The group benefited from the good weather as well as a successful England World Cup campaign.
Branded local pubs did particularly well, with sales improving by 5.5%, but profits from partner pubs fell by 0.4% largely because of the timing of overheads.
Management are planning on disposing of between 100 and 110 pubs this year and expect to open nine new ones. The board said they plan to: “continue to focus on profitably driving top line growth, developing a more streamlined and efficient organisation and further strengthening our capital structure to deliver long-term value creation for our shareholders.”
Shares in Greene King rose by 8.38% to 514.80p (as of 11:10 BST).