WELCOME

WELCOME TO THE FIRST PINT SIZED OF THE YEAR!

We have had a very busy start to the year, from launching two new additions to our Premium Beer range – Hazy Day and Prior Life, to ground-breaking new policy launches and from exciting new technologies for our pubs, to our collaborative efforts in continuing to drive our Greene King beers in our pubs; we continue to build on some positive momentum from 2023.

However, the trading environment remains extremely challenging with the ale category continuing to lag behind beer, contributing to a gap vs budget. Unfortunately, our Own Brewed Volume continues to underperform vs expectations, despite growing share in a declining category. This naturally requires all of us to stay focused on delivering the plan; keeping control of costs and chasing down every opportunity to grow sales.

Whilst trading remains tough, it’s important we build for the long term. As the world of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) is rapidly evolving, it’s fantastic to see how some of our B&B activity is making a real contribution to our Greene King ESG strategy and how so many of you play a part in this – more on this on page 12 & 13.

Our Rant & Rave Pulse survey has now closed. Our purpose is to pour happiness into lives, and we can't achieve this without your feedback so thank you for participating. More news to come on this soon so we can progress with our action plans.

If the start of the year is anything to go by, this year may be tough, but I remain confident that the plans we have in place with our brilliant beers, brands, and people, we will deliver a strong result. Stay focused and keep the momentum.

Thanks, Matt