In its published accounts for the 52 weeks ended 29 December 2024 it said last year saw it announce the development of its new custom-built brewery with an investment of £40m.
Throughout the year, the rollout of Hickory’s barbecue smokehouse restaurants continued, and Pub Partners performed strongly, with franchised concepts Hive and Nest adding 14 and 10 sites respectively.
It also saw the benefits of its focus on digital, with a multimillion-pound investment into booking systems, as well as its apps, websites and Wi-Fi.
The news comes as the company revealed that group revenue was up 3.2% (prior period: 9.1%) to £2,450.5m, with revenues up in all four reporting segments - Greene King pubs, Destination Brands, Partnerships & Ventures and Brewing & Brands.
The group made an operating profit before adjusting items of £198m (prior period: £186.1m).
Sales growth
Greene King said the year-on-year increase in profit was driven by sales growth and improvement in adjusted operating profit margin while driving cost efficiency. It highlighted the “remaining cost headwinds” particularly team costs driven by significant national living wage and national minimum wage increases.
Greene King CEO Nick Mackenzie said: “Pleasingly, we delivered top-line revenue growth and have grown ahead of the market.
“While our tight control of costs meant we also delivered an increase in adjusted operating profit, our statutory results were impacted by the outlook for the industry, which was compounded by decisions made in the government’s Budget which have dramatically increased our costs.”
Layering of costs
He added: “While we maintain our focus on creating an agile business with a tight grip on what is within our control, the industry continues to face a layering of costs which is changing the fundamental economics of the pub.
“We would encourage the government to urgently introduce the promised business rates reform, reduce regulation and the cost of doing business to ensure that our critical sector is protected, and pubs remain at the heart of communities UK-wide.”
Greene King, which has 878 managed pubs, said it would continue to invest with a focus on people and further enhancing the digital experience.
