Demand brewing for Belhaven Best

DEMAND for Belhaven Best has jumped again since the start of the current business year, owner Greene King said.

The company - which acquired the top-selling beer when it bought Dunbar-based Belhaven Brewery in August 2005 for £187 million - said volumes of Best were up by nine per cent.

Suffolk-based Greene King also said in an update ahead of half-year results, that the Belhaven business - which is headed by Stuart Ross, is Scotland's biggest regional brewer and also includes an estate of around 300 pubs - was "on track" to meet forecasts.

In its update, which accompanied the group's annual shareholder meeting, Greene King chief executive Rooney Anand said: "In Scotland, the Belhaven business is on track to meet expectations for the year."

And he added: "Belhaven Best continues to grow strongly with volumes up nine per cent since the start of the financial year."

In July, Greene King hailed the "significant" performance of Belhaven over the first year of the smoking ban in Scotland, which included a four per cent rise in operating profit to £23.3m and a 25 per cent increase in the amount of food sales at its managed houses, which in Edinburgh include venues such as Siglo, The Waterline and World's End.

In its update, which covered the 17 weeks to August 26, Greene King said that full-year group profit expectations remained "unchanged" despite recent wet weather that caused the worst flooding in decades in parts of England.

BlueOar analyst Mark Brumby said: "This represents a reassuring statement."

The group said like-for-like sales across its two managed pub divisions were slightly ahead of last year, and up two per cent on an underlying basis, after excluding the positive impact of last year's football World Cup on beer sales.

Elsewhere within the group's own-brewed beers, Old Speckled Hen and Abbot Ale, enjoyed double-digit growth in the reporting period, with a ten per cent rise for Hardys & Hansons.

Mr Anand also said the business was "very well-placed" to cope with challenges of the smoking ban - introduced in Wales in April and England in July - with the company learning from Belhaven's earlier and lengthier experience of the ban in Scotland.

Mr Anand also said Greene King, which now has more than 1400 tenanted pubs and nearly 800 managed pubs, was in a good position to capitalise on further opportunities.

Douglas Jack, an analyst at Panmure Gordon, said: "Overall, we view this as a credible result in difficult conditions, reflecting management initiatives to drive food, coffee, wine and ale sales in particular."

Towards the end of the period covered, Greene King, which was established in Bury St Edmunds in 1799, snapped up the Loch Fyne restaurant chain for £68.1m. Subsequent to the period, the firm has opened an outlet in Edinburgh, taking the total number of restaurants to 37.