World Cup boosts Greene King trade with 2.8% sales increase

Greene King has seen its shares rise this morning following the release of positive sales figures for the quarter which saw like-for-like sales rise by 2.8%.

Growth at the company sat at 3.2% for the last ten weeks as Greene King’s local pubs traded well seeing comparable sales rise by 5.5%. The OId Speckled Hen and Abbot Ale brewer attributed the positive figures to England’s World Cup run to the semi-finals.

The company sold 3.7m pints of beer across England’s seven World Cup matches, with like-for-like sales on the day of the team’s semi-final defeat to Croatia up 61%.

The pub chain’s sales were reported by Greene King as being ahead of the broader market rise of 1.2%. The chain achieved the best performance of any group listed on the London Stock Exchange when trade opened this morning, with shares rising by as much as 13.2% up to 537.8p per share.

Peel Hunt analyst, Douglas Jack, said that following the announcement from Greene King that its shares were “seriously undervalued” and he expects a 15% rise in price over the next year.

Greene King said plans to dispose of around 100 pubs and open nine new ones were on track for completion this year.

A Greene King statement read: “This strong performance was underpinned by the ongoing benefits from our sales driving investment to further improve our value, service and quality, and boosted by the weather and a successful World Cup.”