One of the better Drinks industry Investments/trades.

Certainly got Momentum in its favour and we have a bottom triangle/wedge formation breakout.

First resistance level at around 500p.



dyor

A mention here.

Half-year Report

Continued LFL sales momentum in Pub Company

· Pub Company like-for-like (LFL) sales up 2.7%, ahead of the market4 up 1.1%

· Driven by the ongoing benefits from our investment in value, service and quality (VSQ), our strategic focus on four core brands, and boosted by good weather and the World Cup

· Pub Partners LFL net income up; Brewing & Brands revenue up 7.5%

Consistent cash generation, disciplined capital allocation & attractive property valuation

· Operating cash generated5 covers scheduled debt repayment, core capex and dividends

· Further steps taken to refinance Spirit debenture, reducing cost and increasing flexibility of our debt; to date annualised cash interest saving c.£13m and net present value benefit c.£45m

· Interim dividend maintained at 8.8p per share; dividend cover5 of 1.9x

· Estate optimisation; tail disposal proceeds fund new builds, helping to grow average weekly take in Pub Company by 7.9% over the last three years

· Pub estate valuation supports maintained leverage; market value of £4.5bn

Current trading and outlook

· LFL sales in Pub Company were up 2.9% at week 30; Pub Partners and Brewing & Brands performing in line with expectations

· Christmas bookings well ahead of last year

· Remain on track to limit full year net cost inflation to £10-20m

Rooney Anand, chief executive officer

"We have seen continued positive momentum in Pub Company, which was sustained beyond the boost of the World Cup and the summer weather. The hard work of our teams, combined with the investments we made to improve our customer experience, is driving sales outperformance to the market. We remain highly cash generative, meeting our debt repayment requirements, investing in our pubs and paying an attractive, sustainable dividend out of operating free cashflow. Good progress was made refinancing the Spirit debenture, which will reduce the cost of our debt and increase the strength and flexibility of our balance sheet.

"Looking forward, Christmas bookings are up on last year and we look forward to ensuring customers have a great time celebrating the festive season in our pubs. Ongoing uncertainty around Brexit may impact on consumer confidence, but as a team we are focused on our key strategic priorities and remain confident of our outlook for the financial year."

Liberum Capital Buy 540.60 670.00 Reiterates

Shore Capital Buy 540.60 Retains

CHRISTMAS TRADING UPDATE

Trading statement for the 36 weeks to 6th January 2019

After 36 weeks of our financial year, Pub Company like-for-like (LFL) sales were up 3.2% following strong trading over the Christmas period as we continue to trade ahead of the market1. LFL sales in the last two weeks, covering Christmas and the New Year, were up 10.9% and we achieved record Christmas day sales of £7.7m. All sales categories saw LFL sales growth over the last six weeks with our Greene King branded Local Pubs driving strong drink sales growth. Last year's additional investment in Value, Service and Quality continues to underpin our performance.

Pub Partners LFL net profit was down approximately 1% while total beer volumes in Brewing & Brands were up 1.8% and own-brewed volumes were down 2.3%.

Our cost mitigation programme is on track to limit net cost inflation to £10-20m in the year while we made further progress on our estate optimisation programme, remaining on course to dispose of 100-110 pubs and open around nine new pubs in the financial year.

Following the announcement in December of an open tender process on the remaining Spirit bonds, as part of our ongoing debt refinancing programme, we have bought back £62m of the Spirit A5 bonds to date.

While the ongoing uncertainty around Brexit may still have an impact on consumer confidence and spending during the year, we remain confident of our outlook for the financial year. We remain focused on our strategic priorities of driving profitable sales growth, developing a more streamlined and efficient organisation, and further strengthening and improving the flexibility of our capital structure to deliver long-term value for our shareholders.

1. Coffer Peach Business Tracker

Their Ale is terrible these days in some of their big pubs.

you'ld be amazed at the wide range of brews owned by GK - eg brakspear which was brewed in henley for centuries but now in bury st edmunds

apparently GK can replicate the local henley water exactly, and thus make it the same

the GK museum is well worth a visit if you're in the area

apparently GK can replicate the local henley water exactly, and thus make it the same

I doubt that very much.

what i say is true - promise
i won't bore you with the story about brakspear's amusing as it was, but that was the empiric proof
as i said, go to the GK museum

The Brakspear Brewery was indeed a fine one with some fine Ales, unfortunately the price of the property was too much of a temptation to turn down in Henley so they sold out.

But as I say to boast that they can replicate the exact water from the Henley area cannot be true.

well you are categorically wrong, and i speak from knowledge

If I'm wrong then so is the whole of the brewing industry, you cannot produce the same brew quality from different water ask a Brewer of real ale and they will tell you.

groan!
re-read what i wrote and then please bet your house against me

by the way, it's Brakspear

Oh stop arguing and just except the truth.

you are such an arsehole stan

try doing some research into this particular at GK ..... or if you're so certain of your position without so doing, i challenge you to put a large slab of money on the table to match your mouth

Arsehole yourself you established Muppet.

money with mouth please

I don’t enter into agreements with Muppets so I won’t start now.

the following is really interesting so worth posting in full ......

a small correction that Brakspear was bought by Marston and not GK as i thought .....


Many thanks for your enquiry, this question was a common one a few years ago, but hasn’t cropped up for a while. Your timeline is pretty accurate, but for clarity, I’ll confirm the timeline of events first.

Brakspear made the decision to close the brewery around the early 00’s. They were and are rightly incredibly proud of their unique beers and wanted to ensure the quality of consistency of product continued.

In 2004 Brakspear made the decision to move brewing to Wychwood in Witney. Witney was actually the very first location of Brakspear Brewery when founded in 1779 before moving to Henley, so the fit was nice. As part of the move, lots of equipment mainly fermentation vessels, including the unique dropping vessels were moved to Witney. Trials began (with Brakspear yeast) and were overseen by the Head Brewer from Brakspear to ensure consistency and quality of beer. Although there was inevitably and period of time where some drinkers perceived a change, most didn’t and were extremely complimentary about the beer. The Brakspear Head Brewer himself claimed not to be able to notice a difference and is still very complimentary about Brakspear beers to this day.

Marston’s took over Wychwood Brewery in 2008, but they have made absolutely no change to Brakspear Beers. Brakspear beers are all still brewed in Witney, with Brakspear yeast, traditional recipes and with some of the original Brakspear equipment. We continue to brew Brakspear today as we have for the last 15 years and are very proud of the beers indeed.

In direct answer to your question “water, how did (or do) Marston "fake" Henley water so the beer tasted exactly the same”? Truth is, we needed to do very little. Like Henley, Witney is in the Thames Valley and water specifications are extremely comparable. Very small adjustments were made to Calcium Chloride and Calcium Sulphate to bring the water back in line. All breweries adjust their water balance using these additions usually to replicate water from a particular region or to adjust for a particular beer style.

Hope this answers your question.

"a small correction that Brakspear was bought by Marston and not GK as i thought ....."

A small mistake? you can't even get the Pub chain right yet alone anything else... your Muppet credentials laid bare.