Greene King pubs celebrate record Christmas Nearly 450,000 Christmas meals were sold in December, an increase of 23pc on a year earlier, while sales of Champagne and sparkling wine jumped 45pc. On Christmas Day alone total business was up 6.8pc to £2.7m. The strong seasonal performance helped boost retail sales by 3.7pc on a like for like basis in the 36 weeks to January 6, with food business up 4.1pc. Beer sales were down 2pc, but with leading brands Greene King IPA and Old Speckled Hen selling better than last year the brewing side out-performed the market, which was down 4pc. Rooney Anand, chief executive, described the performance as "encouraging" and is confident the group can maintain increases in earnings and dividends despite the bleak outlook for consumer spending. Greene King, with its Hungry Horse, Eating Inn, Loch Fyne Restaurants and Old English Inns chains, has concentrated on developing its food business and benefited from more competitive pricing and having 55pc of its outlets in the South East. Food turnover has doubled since the introduction of the smoking ban in 2007 and is continuing at a healthy rate. Total sales in Greene King Retail were up 9.5pc in the 36-week trading period, with like for like business growing at 3.7pc. The group is halfway through a five-year restructuring programme that involves increasing managed pubs and reducing tenanted numbers. Analysts, attracted by the way the change is recycling capital and improving margins, expect the group to be more ambitious, increasing the target for managed pubs from 1,200 to 1,400 and reducing the tenanted estate below 1,200.