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

Continuing to make new highs since the T/S.

Cheers Skinny bought them.

yOU LIKE YOUR ALE FIRMS YOU.

Are you into REAL ALE?????

Yes - but not fanatical these days.

Interesting, my brothers a massive fan.

Must admit like going around with him at weekends to new joints.

Mind all tastes same to me.Think its cos I have hayfever, cant taste as normal.

Bought in again.

Could be a good run on the cards.

Pubs in general seem to be doing well at the moment.

14 Jun 13 JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 767.50 740.00 740.00 Reiterates

07 Jun 13 Deutsche Bank Buy 767.50 750.00 750.00 Reiterates

Preliminary results

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS
· Retail like-for-like sales up 2.3%; total Retail sales up 7.4%.

· Retail operating profit up 12.1%; margin increased 80 basis points to 19.4%.

· Average EBITDA per pub up 4.2% in Pub Partners; core like-for-like EBITDA up 0.1%.

· Brewing & Brands core own-brewed volume up 1.0%; revenue up 2.1%.

· Strong cash flow; earnings & dividend growth.

· Further improvement in ROCE, up 40 basis points to 8.9%.

· Current trading strong; Retail like-for-like sales up 3.3%.

STRATEGIC PROGRESS
· Estate plan on track; 38 high quality retail sites added, 108 non-core disposals.

· Balance sheet strengthened; net debt to EBITDA 4.7x, fixed charge cover 2.7x.

· Lower pension funding post triennial review; refinanced & bought back bonds before step-up.

* before exceptional items

HSBC Overweight 878.75 873.00 750.00 960.00 Reiterates

Interim Management Statement

CURRENT TRADING
Like-for-like (LFL) sales in our largest business, Retail, are up 4.6% after 18 weeks, with the difficult comparatives of the Jubilee and the European football last year offset by the better summer weather. Food continues to improve its share of our business, with LFL sales up 5.7%, while LFL accommodation sales are up 6.0%, helped by an increase in customers taking their holidays in the UK. LFL drink sales are up 3.7%. Regionally, we have again seen our strongest growth in the South East of England.

Our retail expansion has made further progress, with the retail estate reaching 1,000 sites when the latest Hungry Horse, the Walls End in North Tyneside, opened on 28 August.

In Pub Partners, average EBITDA per pub was up 5.8% after 16 weeks, while LFL EBITDA was up 2.7%.

Brewing & Brands core brand volume was up 2.7% after 18 weeks, led by Old Speckled Hen, the UK's no.1 premium ale brand, with growth of 7.9%. Total beer volume was up 1.5%.

Our balance sheet and cash generation remain strong and in line with our expectations.
OUTLOOK
There appear to be cautious signs of optimism in terms of recent UK macro-economic improvements. In turn, we are seeing indications of growing consumer confidence, which is reflected in our strong start to the financial year. This performance has been helped by some one-off factors including the feel-good factor from continued British sporting success and the arrival of the Royal Baby, combined with much improved weather over the summer months.

While the pace of the recovery remains uncertain, we believe that our strategy, tailored for the prevailing conditions, will continue to deliver improving returns, sustained earnings growth and attractive dividends for our shareholders. We look forward to another successful year.

Interim Results

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS
· Retail like-for-like sales up 3.5%; Retail margin increased ten basis points to 20.5%.

· Average EBITDA per pub up 5.2% in Pub Partners; core like-for-like EBITDA up 1.7%.

· Brewing & Brands core own-brewed volume up 1.7%.

· Strong cash flow; earnings & dividend growth.

· Further improvement in ROCE, up ten basis points since the year-end to 9.0%.

· Current trading strong; Retail like-for-like sales up 3.5% after 30 weeks.

STRATEGIC PROGRESS
· Strong growth from key sales categories; food now 41% of Retail sales.

· 1,008 Retail sites with 22 added; targeting further 90 sites over next 18 months.

· 59 disposals in Pub Partners; trading estate now 1,218 sites, down 28% from peak.

· Further balance sheet strengthening; net debt to EBITDA has fallen to 4.6x.

PRE-CLOSE TRADING UPDATE

CONTINUED STRONG TRADING MOMENTUM

Greene King announces its pre-close trading update for the 52 weeks to 27 April 2014. Its preliminary results for the 53 weeks to 04 May 2014 will be announced on 03 July 2014.

Highlights include: -

· Retail like-for-like (LFL) sales up 4.1% and up 4.8% in the last 16 weeks
· 22nd consecutive quarter of LFL sales growth
· Food LFL sales up 5.0% and room LFL sales up 6.8%
· Average EBITDA per pub in Pub Partners up 5.0%
· Core brand own-brewed volumes (OBV) up 4.6%
· Expect to meet market expectations for the full year

Rooney Anand, chief executive officer, said:

"We have achieved consistently strong trading in each of our businesses through the year. This reflects the strengths of our business and the success of our strategy to move to higher growth areas in our markets and to improve the customer offer. We expect to meet the market's full year expectations for profit, cashflow and the balance sheet, with further improvement in our ROCE and a further reduction in leverage.

"Looking ahead, we see the UK's economic outlook improving. Throughout the downturn wage growth lagged inflation but this quarter has seen that change for the first time since the recession began, which bodes well for the future. Customers, though, are still spending carefully, as highlighted by our most recent Leisure Spend Tracker report*. Hence we remain cautiously optimistic for the forthcoming financial year."

OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS

On the back of our continued commitment to delivering great value, service and quality to our customers, we have achieved another year of strong LFL sales growth in Retail. LFL sales were up 4.1%, with 4.8% growth in the last 16 weeks. This was the 22nd consecutive quarter of LFL sales growth. Food LFL sales were up 5.0%, room LFL sales were up 6.8% and drink LFL sales were up 3.2%. During the last 16 weeks, we saw good growth on key events such as Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Easter. On Mother's Day, we served a single day record of 262,000 food covers with LFL sales growth of 17.1%. Farmhouse Inns performed particularly well with average sales per site of £14.4k and three sites delivering over £16k.

We expect the Retail margin to be slightly ahead of last year.

Our Retail expansion programme remains on track. We expect to have added 45 new Retail sites by the year-end, taking Retail to 1,032 sites, with Hungry Horse reaching 232 sites by the year-end.

Average EBITDA per pub in Pub Partners was up 5.0%. Our strategy to reduce the size and improve the quality of the Pub Partners' estate continues and we expect to end this financial year with 1,164 sites, 149 less than last year, after 134 disposals and 15 transfers to Retail.

Brewing & Brands has again improved its market share, achieving core OBV growth of 4.6% against a UK ale market down 2.3%**. Our continued strong performance was driven by Old Speckled Hen, the UK's leading premium ale brand, which recorded growth of 12.5%.

*GK Leisure Spend Tracker March 2014
**BBPA, 12 months to March 2014

DISPOSAL OF 275 NON-CORE ASSETS

Greene King plc announces that it has agreed the sale of 275 non-core tenanted and leased pubs to Hawthorn Leisure Limited, backed by Avenue Capital Group and May Capital LLP, for a total consideration of £75.6m.

These pubs, located across the UK, generated EBITDA in the last year of £12.4m, implying a disposal multiple of 6.1x. The book value of these pubs was £93.8m and we expect to complete the deal by early June.

Greene King and Hawthorn Leisure have also agreed a three-year beer supply deal for these pubs, securing continued and valuable nationwide distribution for our industry-leading ale brand portfolio.

This transaction is consistent with our stated strategic direction and delivers three important benefits: -

1. Increases the company's exposure to the faster-growing Retail sector;
2. Further improves the quality and outlook of Pub Partners' earnings;
3. Further strengthens the balance sheet providing an opportunity to selectively accelerate retail investment and expansion

Deutsche Bank Buy 890.50 890.50 - 1,045.00 Reiterates

Preliminary Results

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS
· Retail like-for-like sales up 4.1%; food like-for-like sales up 5.0%.

· Average EBITDA per pub up 5.2% in Pub Partners; core like-for-like net income up 2.2%.

· Brewing & Brands core own-brewed volume up 4.6%; profit up 1.3%.

· Strong cash flow, lower leverage, earnings & dividend growth.

· Return on capital employed up 30 basis points to 9.2%.

· Continued progress across all businesses in first eight weeks of new financial year.

STRATEGIC PROGRESS
· Portfolio reshaping better positions Greene King for growth and higher returns.

o Added 45 sites to Retail, taking estate to 1,032; Hungry Horse now 226 sites.

o 148 disposals or transfers from Pub Partners; sold 275 site package post year-end.

· Volume share of UK ale market up 70 basis points to 11.3%.

· Evolving strategy to accelerate Retail exposure and move beyond conventional pub offers.

*before exceptional items **F13 restated for impact of IAS 19 (revised 2011), see note 11 of preliminary financial statements

Ex-divi wed 13th Aug 2014 (20.8p)

Interim Management Statement

CURRENT TRADING

Like-for-like (LFL) sales in Retail were up 0.4% in the first 18 weeks of the year, with tough comparatives from the excellent summer last year compounded by a disappointing World Cup this year.

It is also evident that while the UK economy continues to strengthen, customers remain cautious and are spending very carefully. In response to this, we have protected Retail profitability by being careful not to over-invest in tactical, short-term sales building initiatives.

Within Retail, our accommodation business performed well and we saw particularly strong trading at Metropolitan, our premium London pubs, and Farmhouse Inns, our carvery restaurants.

Our Retail expansion programme continued with a net additional five sites opened in the year-to-date, taking the total estate to 1,037 sites, with a healthy pipeline of potential new sites in place. New sites this year are expected to be significantly weighted towards the second half of the year.

Our other businesses also traded well: Pub Partners total LFL net income was up 3.7% after 16 weeks, while in Brewing & Brands, own-brewed volume was up 6.2% after 18 weeks, driven by strong growth from Old Speckled Hen, the UK's no.1 premium ale brand.

Our balance sheet and cash generation remain strong and in line with our expectations.

OUTLOOK

We anticipate that Retail LFL sales will improve as the year progresses and that the momentum in Pub Partners and Brewing & Brands will continue.

More broadly, we remain focused on our strategy of delivering long-term growth and returns to our shareholders through expanding our retail estate, increasing our exposure to the eating out market and driving the best value, service and quality for our customers.

Overall, we look forward to another year of continued progress across the business.

Interim Results

HIGHLIGHTS
· Record sales; retained business growth of 5.3%.

· Retail like-for-like sales +0.8%; Pub Partners like-for-like net income +3.7%; Brewing & Brands own-brewed volume +5.9%.

· Retained business adjusted earnings per share growth of 5.3% with strong cash flow, lower leverage & dividend growth.

· Return on capital employed up 20 basis points on first half last year to 9.2%.

· Further strategic progress:

o Added 11 sites to Retail, taking estate to 1,040.

o Pub Partners estate now 864 sites; average EBITDA per site up 13.8%.

· Recommended proposal to acquire Spirit Pub Company, post period-end.

· After 30 weeks, Retail LFL sales were +0.8% and +1.5% last 12 weeks.

· Bookings for Christmas across Retail are +7.2%.

Interim Management Statement

Greene King announces its trading update for the 36 weeks to 11 January 2015.

· Retail like-for-like (LFL) sales up 2.0% over Christmas & the New Year and 0.6% year-to-date.
· Retail LFL sales in line with last year in the last six weeks despite tough comparatives.
· Pub Partners LFL net income up 2.8% & Brewing & Brands own-brewed volume (OBV) growth up 5.2%.

Rooney Anand, chief executive officer, said:

"Sales were encouraging in our retail business over the important two weeks covering Christmas and the New Year, despite a very tough comparative from last year and softer trading in Scotland, following the introduction of tougher drink-driving laws. Outside of those weeks, trading was more volatile, with the weeks before Christmas slightly down on the previous year and soft trading since the New Year.

This performance was delivered in a continued challenging environment, as highlighted by the most recent Greene King Leisure Tracker, which reported an 8% year-on-year fall in household leisure spending in November.

We are delighted that last week Greene King and Spirit Pub Company shareholders overwhelmingly voted in favour of the proposed transaction between our two companies. This will create the UK's leading managed pub company and deliver significant shareholder value through material synergy generation and anticipated earnings accretion. The exact timing of the completion of the deal remains uncertain but we are working closely with the Competition and Markets Authority and expect the deal to complete by the end of the first half of 2015."

TRADING

Total sales in Greene King Retail were up 5.9% after 36 weeks, with LFL sales growth of 0.6%. LFL sales in the last six weeks were in line with last year, against growth of 5.0% in the same period last year, and slower trading in Scotland due to a combination of the new drink-driving laws and poorer weather. Excluding Scotland, Retail LFL sales were up 0.6% in the last six weeks. Retail LFL sales in the two weeks over Christmas and the New Year were up 2.0% against growth of 6.4% in the same period last year.

We received a record 780,000 Christmas bookings, up 7.0%, with LFL growth of 3.5%. As a consequence, we achieved record Retail sales of £3.4m on Christmas Day, including a record single site trading day of £15.5k at our Farmhouse Inn in Castleford. We also saw sales of Prosecco grow 78% over the two key weeks of the period, indicating that value remains a key consideration for customers.

Our best performing brands over the last six weeks were Metropolitan, reflecting the ongoing strength of the London market, and our more food-led brands including Farmhouse Inns.

After 36 weeks, LFL net income at Pub Partners was up 2.8%. All the key licensee health measures remain strong and anecdotal evidence from licensees has been positive regarding festive trading, particularly around food sales.

Brewing & Brands own-brewed volume was up 5.2% after 36 weeks with growth of 3.7% over the last six weeks. Growth continues to be driven by our take home and export channels, and by Old Speckled Hen, the UK's leading premium ale brand.

TRADING STATEMENT

At its AGM today, Greene King will make the following trading statement for the 18 weeks to 6 September 2015.

CURRENT TRADING

In the first 18 weeks of the year, like-for-like (LFL) sales in Greene King Retail grew by 1.3% with growth of 1.9% in the last ten weeks. All major sales categories are in LFL sales growth.

Excluding the continued impact of drink-driving regulations in Scotland, LFL sales were up 1.8% in the first 18 weeks, and up 2.4% in the last ten weeks.

LFL sales in the Spirit managed estate grew by 0.8% over the last 18 weeks.

In our Pub Partners business, LFL net income was up by 2.0% after 16 weeks, while it was up 1.1% in the Spirit leased estate. Brewing & Brands own-brewed volume grew 1.7% in the first 18 weeks of the year with good growth seen from Old Speckled Hen, Greene King IPA and Abbot Ale, despite strong Take Home comparatives due to the World Cup last year.

SPIRIT UPDATE

Although it is still early in the process, the integration of Spirit is going well and we remain confident of generating at least £30m of cost synergies. On 28 August 2015, we exchanged contracts on all 16 of the pubs that we were required to sell by the Competition and Markets Authority and we expect completion in early October 2015.

We will provide a further update on the integration at our interim results on 2 December 2015.

Not sure why this has been hit so hard recently. On my watch list as a reasonable divi payer.