Greene King gets UK summer sun sales boost

LONDON, Sept 3 (Reuters) - British pub and breweries group Greene King (LSE: GNK.L - news) reported a rise in sales over the last four months, helped by the hot summer weather, and said consumer confidence was growing.

Greene King, which operates the Hungry Horse, Old English Inns, Eating Inn and Loch Fyne Restaurants, on Tuesday said like-for-like retail sales rose 4.6 percent in the 18 weeks to Sept. 1.

"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," said Chief Executive Rooney Anand.

While Britain's pubs closed at an alarming rate during the economic downturn, some such as Greene King with a value-led food offering are benefiting from rising demand from cost-conscious customers for casual dining over pricier eateries.

Greene King, which also benefits from a greater exposure to the more affluent south east of England, said underlying food sales rose 5.7 percent during the period. The company has around 2,300 pubs, restaurants and hotels across Britain.

Anand said the group was seeing "cautious signs of optimism" in terms of recent UK macro-economic improvements and growing consumer confidence, which was reflected in its positive trading performance.

Also on Tuesday rival Punch Taverns (LSE: PUB.L - news) reported an improving sales trend and said year profit would meet expectations.

It said core estate net income increased 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter to August 17, a third straight quarter of improvement, taking the year outcome to down 2.4 percent.

Punch said it would report full year underlying earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of between 210-220 million pounds, adding that expectations for future net income growth from the core estate were unchanged.