Greene King warns Brexit will hamper pub trade

PUBS firm Greene King has warned that drinkers could be knocking back fewer pints in the future following the Brexit vote as consumer confidence takes a hit.

Greene King boss Rooney Anand said despite a strong start to the year, ‘it is likely that consumer confidence will be affected by Brexit in the near-term’.

He said: ‘However, Greene King has a strong track record of performing well in challenging conditions, we are a resilient business with a talented team.’

Despite the warning, Greene King – which operates pubs across the Portsmouth region – reaped the benefits of its £774m acquisition of rival Spirit last year.

It saw revenue rocket 57.6 per cent to £2bn as a result.

Pre-tax profit rose 52.2 per cent to £256.5 million.

Mr Anand added: ‘It has been a transformational year for Greene King.

‘We completed the acquisition of Spirit Pub Company and reached the milestone of £2 billion revenue.

‘We have delivered growth across each of the three divisions, outperforming the market in a challenging environment, while making significant progress in combining the best of both businesses to build Britain’s best pub company.’

It comes as a number of businesses and a raft of top bosses have been sounding the alarm over the impact of Britain’s vote to leave the EU.

Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson said the company may have lost up to a third of its value since the Brexit vote.

He also revealed it had pulled the plug on a deal worth 3,000 jobs due to the uncertainty created by the decision to quit the EU.