Not much Christmas cheer for pub firm Greene King

LONDON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Greene King (LSE: GNK.L - news) said tougher drink-driving laws in Scotland had added to weak trading either side of Christmas across the British pubs group, keeping underlying sales flat.

The group, which operates almost 2,000 pubs including Hungry Horse, as well as breweries, said like-for-like sales at its own managed pubs in the six weeks to Jan. 11 were in line with last year and up 0.6 percent after 36 weeks.

That was below a 3.5 percent rise expected by Cenkos analyst Simon French and a market up almost 3 percent, according to industry data.

Greene King said it had been up against a tough comparative from last year, adding that trading had been slow prior to Christmas and soft into 2015. Demand in Scotland had also been crimped by a new law which makes the legal drink-drive limit lower than elsewhere in the UK.

Underlying sales over the two-week Christmas and New Year period rose 2.0 percent, however, with record sales on Christmas Day. Like-for-like sales were up 2.8 percent at its tenanted and leased division after 36 weeks.

The group said it expected its 774 million pound ($1.17 billion) takeover of Spirit Pubs to complete during the first half of 2015.

The takeover, which was agreed in November, following Spirit's rejection of an earlier approach from Magners cider maker C&C Group (Other OTC: CCGGY - news) , was backed by shareholders last week.

The deal will create one of the biggest pub groups in Britain, with over 3,000 pubs, restaurants and hotels, boosting Greene King's exposure to a fast-growing casual dining market.

($1 = 0.6602 pounds) (Reporting by Neil Maidment)