Greene King first-half pretax profit rises 5.7 percent

LONDON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - British pub and breweries group Greene King (Other OTC: GKNGY - news) reported a 5.7 percent rise in first-half pretax profit, helped by a strong performance by its retail business.

Greene King, which operates the Hungry Horse, Old English Inns, Eating Inn and Loch Fyne restaurants, on Tuesday said adjusted pretax profit rose to 85.6 million pounds ($140.1 million) in the 24 weeks to Oct (KOSDAQ: 039200.KQ - news) . 13, broadly in line with analysts' expectations.

"Growth has once again been led by our retail business, which grew profits by 8 percent over last year," said Chief Executive Rooney Anand.

Anand said trading since the end of the period had been strong and that the economic outlook was improving, although he cautioned that customers remained careful with their money.

Greene King, which performed well over the summer due to hot weather, said first-half revenue was up 5.2 percent to 595.4 million pounds.

Its board declared an interim dividend of 7.6 pence per share, 6.3 percent greater than a year earlier. The company has around 2,300 pubs, restaurants and hotels across Britain.