Greene King to focus on managed houses

05 July 2010 by
Greene King to focus on managed houses

Greene King](http://www.caterersearch.com/A-Z/CompaniesLanding/224/663/Page1.htm) is to shift its focus to managed houses, as it revealed plans to cut its tenanted estate by almost 400 to around 1,200 pubs.

The company said that it wanted to grow its [Hungry Horse ](http://www.greeneking.co.uk/launch_hungry_horse.htm)and [Old English Inns ](http://www.greeneking.co.uk/launch_old_english_inns.htm)brands by 200 over the next five years as it moved to a more branded and food-led business model. The Suffolk-based brewer plans to finance the expansion through existing bank funds, what was left of a rights issue last year, and the sale of existing tenanted pubs. Greene King currently has 147 Hungry Horse pubs, having spend £13.4m on 47 outlets in the year.

The remaining pubs in its tenanted division will be repositioned to a more "retail-led" approach to help maintain their long-term profitability, the company said.

The news came as the company revealed a 3% rise in turnover to £984.1m for the year to 2 May 2010. Pre-tax profits rose almost 4% to £123m but operating profits fell 2.3% to £211.3m. The group's managed houses accounted for 60% of sales, at £589.2m. Sales at its tenanted pub estate fell 6.5% to £145.1m on an estate 5.1% smaller.

Greene King's Scottish division [Belhaven ](http://www.belhavenpubs.co.uk/)saw turnover up 11.7% at £151.9m, while operating profits rose 8.3% to £32.7m. Greene King's brewing business saw sales up more than 4% to nearly £98m, with operating profits up 0.9% to £21.4m.

Chief executive Rooney Anand called on the Government to offer more support to the pub industry. "Looking ahead, we are hopeful that the coalition government will be more supportive of our industry and look forward to working closely with them on responsible drinking, the tie and alcohol duty.

"Given the possible impact of the emergency budget on consumer spending, trading conditions are likely to remain challenging," he said.

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By Neil Gerrard

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