Final Results

LEI: 213800R9N5F2WRMGTR50 27 June 2019

PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE 52 WEEKS TO 28 APRIL 2019

HIGHLIGHTS2

Profit growth through strong LFL sales and ongoing cost mitigation programme

· Pub Company like-for-like (LFL) sales ahead of the market at +2.9%, driven by effective investments in value, service and quality (VSQ), our four core brand focus and boosted by the good weather and successful World Cup

· Further improvements made in TripAdvisor and Net Promoter Scores (NPS)

· Pub Company operating margin flat year on year at 15.2%

· Pub Partners LFL net income +1.5% and LFL net profit -0.3%; Brewing & Brands revenue up 5.8%

· £35m mitigation achieved, limiting cost inflation to £14m; adjusted profit before tax1,2 +1.6% to £246.9m

Strong operating cash flow covers debt repayment, core capex and dividends

· Net debt to EBITDA1,2 reduced to 4.0x; targeting continued deleveraging

· Spirit debenture 51% repaid since F17, reducing cost and increasing flexibility of our debt; Greene King securitisation tapped for £250m at 3.6%

· Consistent five to six year capex programme delivering returns of over 30%

· Dividend per share of 33.2p; long-term track record of attractive, sustainable dividend

Clear near-term priorities and ongoing cost mitigation support confidence in full year

· Trading over the first eight weeks was impacted by the poor weather

· Clear near-term priorities in place to drive sales and efficiencies

· Ongoing mitigation programme to limit net cost inflation to £10-20m in F20

· Further progress made refinancing Spirit debenture since start of new financial year

Nick Mackenzie, chief executive

"Greene King is a great business with a rich heritage, a high-quality estate, a strong portfolio of brands and 38,000 talented team members. Just two months into the job, I have been struck by the amazing pride and passion that our team members have for Greene King and I want to thank them for their continued dedication to providing great experiences for our customers and supporting local communities.

"The business delivered good results last year, regaining trading momentum in Pub Company and returning to market outperformance while fulfilling a strong cost mitigation programme and making further progress refinancing the Spirit debenture. The existing strategy we have in place has led the business through challenging times. I am looking forward to building on Greene King's strong foundations with a focus on innovation, on developing our people and on customer service to further enhance our brands and deliver sustainable growth for our shareholders."

HEADLINE GROUP RESULTS

1. Adjusted measures exclude the impact of exceptional and non-underlying items as detailed in note 3 of this statement

2. The directors use a number of Alternative Performance Measures (APMs) that are considered critical to aid the understanding of the group’s performance. APMs are explained on page 39 of this announcement

3. Deferred tax, goodwill and retained earnings have been restated. As a consequence prior year exceptional and non-underlying tax has been restated impacting basic EPS, diluted EPS and ROCE. See note 4 for further details

NOTES FOR EDITORS

· Greene King was founded in 1799 and is headquartered in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. It currently employs around 38,000 people across its main trading divisions; Pub Company, Pub Partners and Brewing & Brands

· At the end of the financial year, Greene King operated 2,730 pubs, restaurants and hotels across England, Wales and Scotland, of which 1,687 were retail pubs, restaurants and hotels, and 1,043 were tenanted, leased and franchised pubs. Its leading retail brands are Greene King Local Pubs, Chef & Brewer, Farmhouse Inns and Hungry Horse. 81% of the estate is either freehold or long leasehold

· Greene King also brews quality ale brands from its Bury St. Edmunds and Dunbar breweries. Its industry-leading portfolio includes Greene King IPA, Old Speckled Hen, Abbot Ale and Belhaven Best

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

Further information is available at www.greeneking.co.uk or on Twitter using @greeneking

There will be a presentation for analysts and investors at 9.30am at Peel Hunt, Moor House, 120 London Wall, London EC2Y 5ET. The conference will be webcast and can be accessed using the following link: https://webcasting.brrmedia.co.uk/broadcast/5d0a4dc8221579216107e47a

CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

OVERVIEW

2018/19 was a year in which Greene King outperformed the market, making the most of the good weather and the World Cup while minimising cost inflation through an ambitious ongoing mitigation programme. Our teams worked hard to improve customer experience, and our executives made further progress in embedding those key processes which are so important to delivering value service and quality on a consistent basis. Excellent progress was made on the refinancing of the Spirit debenture, reducing the cost and increasing the flexibility of our debt. With clear momentum restored to the business over the last year, we are fully focused on delivering our aim of being the best pub and beer company in Britain.

BOARD CHANGES

On 30 April 2019, just after year end, Rooney Anand resigned from the board, leaving Greene King after 14 years as chief executive. Rooney proved himself to be one of the most successful business leaders of our industry and during his tenure the company has been transformed. On behalf of the board and our shareholders I should like to take this opportunity to thank him again for all he has done and wish him well for the future.

After a comprehensive search we were delighted to appoint Nick Mackenzie to the board on 1 May in succession as chief executive. Nick brings with him rich and relevant experience gained from his time at Merlin Entertainments as well as earlier roles at Bass and Allied Domecq. I am confident that he too will prove to be an outstanding leader for the business and drive continued evolution at Greene King.

On the same day we appointed Sandra Turner, an experienced executive from the FMCG and retail industries, to the board as a non-executive director, bringing further weight to our future deliberations.

PERFORMANCE HEADLINES

Group revenue was up 1.8% to £2,216.9m, driven by Pub Company LFL sales up 2.9%, and group profit before tax, exceptional and non-underlying items was up 1.6% to £246.9m. Statutory group profit before tax fell by 12.5% to £172.8m. Adjusted basic earnings per share1 were up 2.9% to 64.5p whereas basic earnings per share fell 34.2% to 38.9p.

DIVIDEND

The board has recommended a final dividend of 24.4p, reflecting our continued confidence in the long-term prospects for the business. This takes the total dividend for the year to 33.2p, in line with last year. We have a long-term track record of covering our debt amortisation, core capital expenditure and dividend from cash generated from operations1 and the board continues to target a dividend covered approximately two times by earnings.

PEOPLE

Our success relies on the continuing efforts of the 38,000 talented and dedicated team members within our business. This year they have worked hard to drive momentum back in Pub Company, delivering market-outperforming LFL sales and profit growth in a tough cost environment. I would like to thank everyone for their efforts and their ongoing commitment.

LOOKING AHEAD

I believe that with Nick's fresh approach and extensive experience, coupled with Greene King's strong brands, teams and assets, we are in a good position to deliver on our ambition of becoming the best pub and beer company in Britain whilst continuing to drive strong financial returns. We cannot count on repeating last year's weather, nor a stable economic environment; however, we will remain focused on the needs of our customers, teams and shareholders.

Philip Yea

Chairman

26 June 2019

1. Adjusted measures exclude the impact of exceptional and non-underlying items as detailed in note 3 of this statement

CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S REVIEW

The group reported good results for the last year, delivering on each of its key priorities to improve underlying sales growth in Pub Company, to develop a more efficient and effective organisation, to further strengthen the capital structure and to protect trading from potential Brexit disruption.

PERFORMANCE SUMMARY

Group revenue was up 1.8% to £2,216.9m as strong sales growth in Pub Company and Brewing & Brands offset reduced revenues from the planned rationalisation of our estate as we continue to manage and optimise our portfolio. Group operating profit before exceptional and non-underlying items was down 1.3% to £368.2m, impacted by £14m net cost inflation. Group net interest costs were reduced by 6.8% to £121.3m and group profit before tax, exceptional and non-underlying items was up 1.6% to £246.9m.

Pub Company revenue was up 1.8% to £1,799.2m with strong LFL sales growth of 2.9% offsetting the 2.5% decrease in the average number of pubs trading. We made good progress in both NPS and TripAdvisor scores. Average weekly take (AWT) was up 4.1% and average EBITDA per trading pub was up 3.3%, reflecting our ongoing estate optimisation programme. Pub Company operating profit was up 1.8% to £272.9m and the operating margin was 15.2%, flat year-on-year and up 50 basis points in the second half of the year.

Pub Partners revenue was down 2.0% to £190.1m, driven by the 5.0% decrease in the average number of pubs trading. LFL net income was up 1.5%, boosted by higher rental income and beer sales. Average EBITDA per pub was up 1.0% and LFL net profit was down 0.3%, impacted by increased central costs.

Brewing & Brands revenue was up 5.8% to £227.6m with total beer volume growth of 0.9% supported by the good weather and the World Cup. Own brewed volume (OBV) was down 3.4% ahead of an ale market down 4.1% (source: BBPA). Operating profit was down 10.7% to £27.4m, driven by the estate rationalisation, increased costs and the lower production volumes in our two breweries.

Cash generated from operations1 of £308.6m comfortably covered our scheduled debt repayments, core capital expenditure and dividend payments. Our strong cash generation reduced net debt by £89.0m to £1,943.3m and net debt to EBITDA to 4.0x.

116 non-core disposals generated net proceeds of £75.8m and £24.0m was spent on five new builds and five single site acquisitions, of which three will open in the new financial year.

Adjusted basic earnings per share1 were up 2.9% to 64.5p and the board has recommended a final dividend of 24.4p per share, taking the total dividend for the year to 33.2p, in line with last year.

The business generated a strong ROCE of 8.5% which remains comfortably above our weighted average cost of capital. Our annualised returns on investment in core development capex were over 35%. As part of the Spirit debt refinancing programme, we carried out an estate revaluation during the year which indicated a market value of £4.5bn, versus a book value of £3.5bn.

TRADING ENVIRONMENT

The number of licensed premises in the UK remains in decline and was down 2.3% in the year to March 2019 (CGA & Alix Partners Market Growth Monitor, May 2019), driven by the continued closure of drink-led pubs but also, more recently, by an acceleration in restaurant closures. Customer demand was strong over the year with LFL sales growth of 1.7%, driven by drink-led pub LFL sales growth of 3.4% and food-led pub LFL sales growth of 1.6%, offset by slower restaurant LFL sales growth of 0.1% (CGA's Coffer Peach Business Tracker, April 2019).

The active management of our large estate and high quality brands enables us to react dynamically to shifting consumer behaviour. We extended the Greene King brand into more food-led pubs this year, helping to improve our drinks offer in those pubs. We also transferred 11 pubs from Pub Company to Pub Partners and four pubs from Pub Partners to Pub Company.

Consumer behaviour and changing demands continue to provide opportunities for dynamic pub operators such as Greene King. Experiential offers are important for customers and this will be particularly significant for pubs as we enter a year without large football tournaments such as the World Cup or the European Championship. Wellbeing remains a key concern for customers with millennials, in particular, seeking healthy food and drink options and placing greater importance on sustainability. The drink premiumisation trend continues, led by the growth of gin-based drinks. Finally, digital innovation continues to give the consumer ever greater choice and convenience through delivery and mobile payment platforms. Digital channels also allow for enhanced engagement between customers and brands, and for experiences to be shared online on customer reviewing platforms. 

Despite all these changes, customers still value high quality products, an atmospheric environment, good service and value for money. While we are cognisant of shifting consumer trends and the opportunities they present to us, we also remain focused on providing improvements in the VSQ of our offers, targeting volume-led sales growth and improved brand loyalty.

STRATEGY

Our overall strategic objective is to be the best pub and beer company in Britain. To achieve this, Greene King has pursued a robust strategy, built on five key pillars: building distinct brands that more customers choose; providing offers that deliver compelling value, service and quality; developing engaged and high performing teams; maintaining a well-located and invested estate; and executing prudent financial management. This strategy has led the business successfully through some challenging times and it is on these strong foundations that we will continue to evolve our strategy to drive sustainable growth for our shareholders.

To help us deliver on the five key pillars of our long-term strategy, we have four near-term priorities:

1. Digitally enable commercial leadership to make our team members' lives simpler and our customers' drinking and eating out experiences easier

2. Continue to realign the structure of our business to our strategic aims and invest in our processes and systems to ensure our organisation is efficient and effective

3. Improve pub productivity and efficiency without impacting on service standards to customers or negatively impacting pub team members

4. Continue to actively manage our estate, optimising our managed pubs portfolio around our four core brands and further segmenting the Greene King Locals brand to maximise sales opportunities on the high street and in local communities.

PEOPLE

Our people are our greatest asset, with around 38,000 team members employed across the group. Attracting and retaining the best people and developing and investing in them are critical to our continued success.

We completed a support centre restructure in the first half of the year to better align central Pub Company support to the simplified brand portfolio and to develop a more streamlined and efficient organisation. We spent £3m in learning, training and development over the year, focusing particularly on our digital training platform, TAP. Over 300,000 training hours were spent on TAP in the year with over 100,000 courses completed. Induction course compliance was up 5% as a result of the online platform, helping to drive improved service scores in our pubs.

We invested in enhanced staff benefits, including launching a Friends and Family discount scheme, and continued to focus on employee wellbeing, holding our second annual Wellbeing Week and launching Shine, a programme developed to equip our employees with better work-life balance management skills. In addition, we launched 'Your Voice', a communications and engagement forum to improve conversation within the business. The forum will be used to enable the board to engage with employees via its designated non-executive director, Lynne Weedall, who will attend a number of its meetings. We have also partnered with KPMG to provide the 9% of our workforce who are non-UK EU nationals with a tool to help navigate the implications of Brexit.

Our apprenticeship programme continued to grow with over 1,900 apprentices joining the business and more than 560 vacancies being filled through the scheme this year. Over 11,000 apprentices have benefitted from the Greene King apprenticeship programme since its launch in 2011. We were thrilled to receive the Princess Royal Training award for our apprenticeship programme, as well as the Best Apprenticeship Programme award and Best Training Partnership award at the Training Journal Awards. We were also pleased to maintain our position in the top 100 Apprenticeship Employers by Rate My Apprenticeship and All About School Leavers.

Our increased investment in our people and our focus on their wellbeing helped maintain engagement and employee NPS broadly flat at 62% and 68% in spite of the head office restructure carried out. We are rolling out an employee app this summer, through which we expect to improve engagement and employee retention further, and drive cost efficiencies.

COMMUNITY

Our pubs act as hubs for their local communities, offering a place to sit, socialise and make a difference to local services and good causes. The teams at our pubs, together with team members at our offices and breweries, helped raise £1.4m this year for our national charity partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support. We are proud to report that this took our total raised to date for Macmillan to over £5m.

In January, we launched The Stepping Up Report, in which we committed to creating the best opportunities for individuals from all backgrounds in the hospitality sector. In order to achieve this goal, we set out five ambitions to encourage greater social mobility:

1. Launch 'Releasing Potential', a new employment programme for ex-offenders. Working with the Ministry of Justice, the charity Only A Pavement Away and partners Novus, Clean Sheet and Sodexo, we will support 50 individuals in the first year

2. Deliver a new commitment to support 20,000 apprentices by 2022

3. Become the first hospitality company to sign the Business in the Community Race at Work Charter. This will see the appointment of an Executive Sponsor for Race, working towards the capturing of ethnicity data and acting to support the career progression of ethnic minorities

4. Pledge to increase internal appointments to pub general manager from 64% to 80%

5. Extend our partnership with The Prince's Trust for a fourth year with a target to increase the number of people being offered a permanent role after successful completion of the 'Get Into Hospitality' programme from 61% to 75%.

PUB COMPANY

Pub Company revenue was up 1.8% despite a 2.5% reduction in the average number of pubs trading from 1,754 to 1,711. LFL sales were 2.9%, ahead of the market, driven by strong drink sales and improving food sales, and AWT was up 4.1% to £20.2k. Operating profit was up 1.8% to £272.9m resulting in an operating profit margin of 15.2%, flat on the previous year, despite the external cost pressures. This was driven by the strong LFL sales growth and the successful cost mitigation programme.

Since the acquisition of Spirit in 2015, when we operated around 14 brands, we have consolidated our managed pubs portfolio around four key brands. Our focus on Greene King Locals, Chef & Brewer, Farmhouse Inns and Hungry Horse continues to drive sales growth and enhanced customer engagement while delivering economies of scale and efficiencies.

Our programme to improve the VSQ of our offer has boosted LFL volumes significantly. We are targeting more compelling and consistent pricing that our customers can rely on and trust, avoiding the high-low discounting that has been prevalent in the industry. Using labour deployment optimisation software we are making sure that we are resourced more appropriately throughout the week, maximising sales opportunities at busier times. In addition, we have maintained our commitment to investing in training to ensure our team members deliver excellent service more consistently to our customers. We have also improved the quality of our leading dishes and rolled out updated perfect drinks serving guidelines to capitalise on the appetite for premium drinks.

This commitment to enhancing VSQ, along with the focus on our four core brands, led to a 3.5%pt rise in Pub Company NPS to 62.5%, while our average TripAdvisor score was up 4.5% with food, service and value measures all in growth. Our brands rank in top positions for value, food and drink quality, menu choice and service, as voted by customers, with Farmhouse Inns maintaining its position as best for overall pub experience (MCA Pub Brand Monitor Q4 2018).

Our Greene King Local pubs delivered LFL sales up 4.6% with the brand's predominantly drink-led offer benefiting from the good weather and the World Cup. Chef & Brewer, our mid-market food-led pub brand, performed well with particularly strong LFL sales growth of 15.3% over the Easter weekend and strong returns on core capex investment. Farmhouse Inns, our suburban and out of town carvery brand, was negatively impacted by the good weather but saw strong breakfast growth of over 30% as well as improvements in service metrics following a focus on weekend labour deployment. Hungry Horse saw good LFL sales growth, particularly in drinks sales, as we invested more in drinks ranging and sports capability.

Delivering an improved customer experience through digital innovation is important for driving continued growth. Online bookings grew 20% year-on-year while Season Ticket subscribers increased to 200,000, aided by a full app roll out in May to maximise impact during the World Cup. Following a review of our Order & Pay trial, we moved the focus of the roll-out to Hungry Horse where we believe customer behaviour will better align to the app than in Greene King Local pubs. We also invested in digital tools to increase the productivity of our team members, distributing tablets to all Pub Company general managers to make administrative duties easier to complete without distracting them from customer-facing activities.

The ongoing cost mitigation programme was primarily focused on Pub Company and we made good progress delivering sustainable procurement savings, on labour productivity and efficiencies, and reducing non-direct costs.

We maintained a consistent core capex cycle of five to six years in Pub Company and spent £88.7m in core capex, covering 192 managed pub developments. Our active estate management programme saw 73 conversions completed, delivering EBITDA returns of 31.3%. We disposed of 46 managed pubs, generating proceeds of £26.6m, and we completed five new builds under the Farmhouse Inns brand and added four single site acquisitions, of which three will open in the new financial year. In addition, four pubs were transferred from Pub Partners to Pub Company, delivering an annualised return of 30.2%. We will continue to explore internal transfers as part of our ongoing estate optimisation programme.

PUB PARTNERS

In Pub Partners, we have a high quality portfolio of 1,043 mainly drink-led pubs. It generates significant and stable cash flow for the group, adds purchasing scale, enhances the Greene King brand and provides flexibility in our estate planning. The success of Pub Partners is built on our ambition to have the best proposition in the market combined with unrivalled people capability and a focus on optimising value from each of our pubs.

Pub Partners revenue was down 2.0% to £190.1m, driven by the 5.0% decrease in the average number of pubs trading. LFL net income was up 1.5%, boosted by higher rental income and beer sales. LFL net profit was down 0.3%, impacted by increased central costs.

The high quality of our Pub Partners estate has been maintained through ongoing estate portfolio management and disciplined capital allocation. We disposed of 70 non-core pubs, generating proceeds of £49.1m, added one single site acquisition and we invested £18.7m in the core estate. In addition, 11 pubs were transferred from Pub Company to Pub Partners.

We have several different agreement types in place designed to best align the interests of Greene King with those of its licensees and support long and successful tenures. Since the implementation of the Pubs Code in 2016, we have had five licensees take up a Market Rent Only agreement. Meanwhile, our average licensee tenure increased to six years and two months, reflecting the strong relationships we build with our licensees. We were pleased that, when surveyed earlier this year, 87% of our licensees felt confident in their business.

The development of both our licensees and our support teams is critical. We continued to invest in training our licensees, supporting over 1,300 delegates through programmes over the year. We are also working on improving our licensee engagement through more regular listening groups and area meetings. We recently completed a restructure of the support centre, reducing the average number of pubs each Business Development Manager (BDM) is responsible for by 17%.

We continued to improve sales and efficiencies at our licensees' pubs, helping to drive the average EBITDA per pub up 1.0% to £89.8k. We are providing 11% of our Pub Partners pubs with food through the Greene King supply chain and 30% are signed up to our digital services package for online purchasing. In addition, 24% of our operators currently use our Sports Club package, delivering customer promotions for sports events.

We were delighted that The Red Lion & Sun in Highgate was awarded the 'Pub of the Year' and 'Best Wine Pub' at the Great British Pub Awards and the Crown in Carlisle was awarded 'Best Turnaround Pub'. In addition, two of our Pub Partners pubs were included in Estrella Damm's Top 100 Restaurants in the UK this year.

BREWING & BRANDS

In Brewing & Brands, our proven long-term strategy is to build consumer loyalty to Greene King through consistent investment in our core ale brands and innovative range of seasonal and craft ales. Through this, we continue to win market share and contribute to Greene King's strong returns and cash generation.

Total beer volumes were up 0.9%, boosted by the good weather and successful World Cup, and revenue in Brewing & Brands was up 5.8%, reflecting the stronger sales contribution from foreign beers and the trend towards premium beers. OBV was down 3.4% against an ale market down 4.1% and a cask ale market down 8.1% (source: BBPA, April 2019). Operating profit was down 10.7% and the operating profit margin was down 2.3%pts, reflecting the estate rationalisation, increased costs, the lower production volumes through our breweries and the impact of this on brewing efficiency. As we exited the year, costs were being realigned to these lower volumes.

Greene King's core brands maintained their UK market leading positions. Greene King IPA continues to be the fastest selling top 10 cask ale brand in the on-trade. Abbot Ale saw strong volume growth of 9.6% and remains the number one premium cask ale brand in the on-trade and the fourth largest ale brand in the UK. Old Speckled Hen is the number one premium ale brand in the UK with the highest brand awareness in its category. This year, we launched Low Alcohol Old Speckled Hen and we gained distribution in 1,300 take home outlets and 2,000 pubs, positioning it for strong growth next year. Belhaven Best remains the number one draught ale brand in Scotland and number four keg ale brand in the UK. In addition, East Coast IPA continued its strong growth with total volume growth of 10%, making it the fastest growing of the top 10 ale brands and the 6th largest craft beer brand in the UK.

We were appointed the exclusive UK distributor for Estrella Galicia this year, supplying the core brand and its 0.0% abv and gluten-free variants, as well as 1906 Reserva Especial and 1906 Black Coupage.

Our market leading portfolio is underpinned by a disciplined brand investment programme. Greene King IPA continues to be the Official Beer of England Cricket and puts its name to the Greene King IPA Championship in rugby. To mark Belhaven brewery's 300th birthday, we are investing in upgrading the visitor experience and relaunched Belhaven's award-winning Twisted Thistle IPA. We also launched a new Greene King brewery website, featuring a 3D virtual tour of the Westgate brewery in Bury St Edmunds.

We were pleased to receive several awards in recognition of our beers and our ongoing innovation in brewing: Low Alcohol Old Speckled Hen won a Monde Silver Award for quality; Twisted Grapefruit IPA was named Beer of the Year at the annual Scottish Beer Awards; Intergalactic won a gold medal at the World Beer Awards; and we won silver awards for Twisted Thistle IPA and Belhaven Black. Yardbird Pale Ale was named the best ale at the Grocer Drink Awards, winning the gold award in the Ale & Others category. In addition, our new head brewer Ross O'Hara qualified as a Master Brewer with the Institute of Brewing and Distilling, making him the youngest Master Brewer in the world.

OUTLOOK

Over the first eight weeks of the new financial year, trading was impacted by the poor weather and LFL sales in Pub Company were below last year's strong comparatives.

Political and consumer uncertainty is likely to continue to weigh on confidence and the cost inflationary environment persists. However, with clear strategic priorities and our ongoing cost mitigation programme in place, we are confident in delivering another year of progress and we are well positioned to continue driving sustainable long-term growth for our shareholders.

The year ahead will be a 53 week year and will see the implementation of IFRS 16 which will affect a number of the reported KPIs. Further information is provided in the financial review and in note 1 of the financial statements.

Nick Mackenzie

Chief executive

26 June 2019

1. Adjusted measures exclude the impact of exceptional and non-underlying items as detailed in note 3 of this statement

2. The directors use a number of Alternative Performance Measures (APMs) that are considered critical to aid the understanding of the group's performance. APMs are explained on page 39 of this announcement

3. Average trading pubs in Pub Company for F18 have been restated

FINANCIAL REVIEW

INCOME STATEMENT

1. Adjusted measures exclude the impact of exceptional and non-underlying items.

Revenue was £2,216.9m, an increase of 1.8% compared to the prior year with strong growth in Pub Company and Brewing & Brands offsetting the planned decline in total pub numbers. Pub Company revenue was up 1.8% to £1,799.2m and accounts for 81% of group revenue. Non-core disposals helped AWT per pub rise 4.1% and average EBITDA per pub rise 3.3%. Total revenue in Pub Partners was £190.1m, down 2.0% driven by a decline in average trading pubs of 5.0%. Tenanted and leased AWT per pub increased 3.0% and average EBITDA per pub grew 1.0% due to the continuing improvement in the quality of the pub estate. Brewing & Brands grew revenue 5.8% to £227.6m with total beer volumes up 0.9%.

Operating profit before exceptional and non-underlying items was £368.2m, which was a decline of 1.3% on the prior year. Group operating profit margin before exceptional and non-underlying items was down 0.5%pts to 16.6%. Pub Company margin was flat versus the prior year at 15.2% and it was up 0.5% pts in the second half, reflecting the benefits from investments in VSQ and estate optimisation. The decline in group operating margin was driven by the reduction in both the Pub Partners margin from 47.1% to 45.8% and the Brewing & Brands margin from 14.3% to 12.0%.

Net interest costs before exceptional and non-underlying items were £121.3m, 6.8% lower than last year due to overall lower debt and the impact of refinancing activities in the year.

Profit before tax, exceptional and non-underlying items was £246.9m, 1.6% higher than last year.

Basic earnings per share before exceptional and non-underlying items of 64.5p was up 2.9%. Statutory profit before tax was £172.8m, down 12.5% versus the prior year.

TAX

The effective rate of corporation tax (before exceptional and non-underlying items) of 19.1% is marginally higher than the UK corporation tax rate of 19.0% due to adjustments for non-deductible expenses, compared to 20.0% in the previous year. This resulted in a tax charge against operating profits (before exceptional and non-underlying items) of £47.1m (2018: £48.6m). The exceptional and non-underlying tax charge of £5.3m (2018: £34.4m credit) is discussed under exceptional and non-underlying items.

The group generates revenue, profits and employment that deliver substantial tax revenues for the UK government in the form of VAT, duties, income tax and corporation tax. In the year, total tax revenues paid and collected by the group were £550m (2018: £580m). The group's tax policy, which has been approved by the board, has the objective of ensuring that the group fulfils its obligations as a responsible UK taxpayer.

The group has recognised an uncertain tax provision of £4.1m in respect of the only open corporation tax enquiry relating to tax deductions claimed on capitalised revenue expenditure.

During the year the group completed a full review of deferred tax, as a result of which, in line with IAS 8, the group has restated balances as at 30 April 2017, and restated its financial results for the year ending 29 April 2018. See note 4 for further details.

EXCEPTIONAL AND NON-UNDERLYING ITEMS

Exceptional and non-underlying items were £79.4m, consisting of a £53.5m charge to operating profit, a £20.6m charge to finance costs and a net exceptional and non-underlying tax charge of £5.3m. Items recognised in the year included the following:

1. A £6.2m charge for employee related costs, which included one off additional defined contribution pensions payments as well as a material restructuring cost associated with changes to management. A further £0.4m of legal and professional fees were incurred in relation to group refinancing activities and defending uncertain tax positions

2. A net impairment charge of £56.7m (2018: £70.4m). Of this total, a net £55.0m charge was made against the carrying value of property, plant and equipment

3. A net profit on disposal of property plant and equipment of £17.0m (2018: £33.0m).

4. A past service cost of £4.9m, across both the Greene King and Spirit pension schemes, for guaranteed minimum pension equalisation following the High Court judgment on this issue in relation to the Lloyds Banking Group's defined benefit pension scheme

5. The £20.6m charge (2018: £10.6m credit) for exceptional and non-underlying finance costs included a £5.4m loss (2018: £19.2m gain) in respect of the mark-to-market movements in the fair value of interest rate swaps not qualifying for hedge accounting, £10.7m costs (2018: £11.6m) recycled from the hedging reserve in respect of settled interest rate swap liabilities and a £4.1m loss (2018: £3.0m profit) on the settlement of financial liabilities

6. The exceptional and non-underlying tax charge of £5.3m consisted of a £9.2m tax charge in respect of prior years, a £4.1m tax charge in respect of the uncertain tax provision explained above, a £0.9m charge in respect of deferred tax rate changes, a £5.5m credit in respect of non-underlying items and a £3.4m credit in respect of other exceptional items. 

CASH FLOW AND CAPITAL STRUCTURE

1. EBITDA represents earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and exceptional and non-underlying items

2. Adjusted measures excluding the impact of exceptional and non-underlying items

The group continued to be highly cash generative with free cash flow of £86.1m, after funding core capital expenditure of £119.1m and dividend payments of £102.9m. This is significantly ahead of scheduled debt repayments of £52.2m. Net disposal proceeds at £75.8m reflected our ongoing programme of estate optimisation and we invested £44.3m in five new builds, five single site acquisitions of which 3 are to be converted in F20 and 79 brand conversions.

The group disposed of 41 trading pubs in Pub Company, 69 trading pubs in Pub Partners and six closed pubs, raising proceeds of £79.3m, which was partially offset by exiting a small number of leases.

The group continued to make good progress against its strategic aim to further strengthen its capital structure. During the year the group made unscheduled repayments of Spirit secured bonds with a total nominal value of £176.0m, recognising a net loss of £4.1m. In June 2018 £62.3m (30%) of the Spirit A4 secured bond was prepaid and, in September 2018, a further £51.9m (25%) of the Spirit A4 secured bond was prepaid. In December 2018 the group, in an open-market transaction, purchased and subsequently cancelled £61.8m (39%) of the Spirit A5 secured bond.

Exceptional gains or losses recognised in respect of these transactions amount to the difference between the carrying value of the repaid or cancelled bonds (comprising the nominal value and a fair value premium) and the settlement amount paid (comprising the sum of the nominal value and a prepayment penalty in the case of the A4 bonds, and the clean purchase price paid in the case of the A5 bonds).

The group also partially terminated two interest rate swap contracts in line with the partial prepayments of the A4 and A5 Spirit secured bonds, resulting in cash payments totalling £16.6m. A further payment of £2.0m was made during the year to eliminate over-hedges on interest rate swap contracts held in respect of the outstanding Spirit secured bonds.

The amount shown under refinancing items in the cash flow table above comprises £18.6m (2018: £42.6m) attributable to the settlement of derivative liabilities and £4.1m (2018: £14.8m) of other costs and non-cash movements attributable to refinancing.

Since June 2017 the group has repaid a total of £393m of Spirit secured bonds which represents 51% of the nominal value of the Spirit secured debt outstanding at F17 year end.

In February 2019 the group issued an additional £250m of secured bonds (class A7) with a fixed coupon of 3.593% out of the Greene King secured financing vehicle in connection with the securitisation of an additional 177 of the group's pubs. The net issuance proceeds were applied to the repayment of revolving credit facility loans, creating capacity to fund the further migration of assets and debt out of the Spirit secured financing vehicle.

Since the year end the group has given notice that it will prepay the remaining 45% (£93.5m) of the Spirit A4 secured bond on 28th June 2019. The group has also agreed to fully terminate the corresponding interest rate swap contract on this date.

In line with our strategic priorities, the group's objective is to maximise the strength and flexibility of its balance sheet, and to maintain a capital structure which meets the short, medium and long-term funding requirements of the business. The principal elements of the group's capital structure are its £750m revolving credit facilities, which were £192m drawn at the year end, and two long-term asset-backed financing vehicles.

At the year end the Greene King securitisation had secured bonds with a group carrying value of £1,537.5m (2018: £1,343.5m) and an average life of nine years (2018: ten years), secured against 1,539 pubs (2018: 1,429 pubs) with a group carrying value of £2.0bn (2018: £1.3bn). The Spirit debenture had secured bonds with a carrying value of £379.5m (2018: £563.6m) and an average life of eight years (2018: nine years), secured against 695 pubs (2018: 872 pubs) with a group carrying value of £0.8bn (2018: £1.0bn).

The group's credit metrics remain strong with 99.6% of net interest costs at a fixed rate, and the group's average cash cost of debt reduced to 5.8% from 6.1% last year. Fixed charge cover increased to 2.3x from 2.2x last year and net debt to EBITDA reduced to 4.0x from 4.2x last year. The Greene King secured vehicle had a free cash flow debt service cover ratio of 1.5x at the year end, giving 27% headroom. The Spirit debenture vehicle had a free cash flow debt service cover ratio of 2.3x giving 44% headroom.

Overall the group's net debt reduced in the year by £89.0m to £1,943.3m.

BALANCE SHEET

1. Deferred tax, goodwill and retained earnings have been restated. See note 4 for further details.

PENSIONS

The group maintains three defined contribution schemes, which are open to all new employees and two defined benefit schemes, which are closed to new entrants and to future accrual.

At 28 April 2019, there was an IAS 19 net pension asset of £31.1m representing an improvement of £17.5m since the previous year end. The closing assets of the group's two pension schemes totalled £865.4m and closing liabilities were £834.3m compared to £859.2m and £845.6m respectively at the previous year end.

The improvement in position is due to contributions made by the group during the year, combined with the net remeasurement gain of £17.0m (2018: 21.5m). Included in the remeasurement are key assumptions relating to the discount rate of 2.5% (2018: 2.8%), RPI inflation of 3.3% (2018: 3.1%) and CPI inflation of 2.2% (2018: 2.0%).

Total cash contributions in the year were £3.3m.

The triennial reviews for both the Greene King and Spirit pension schemes have now been finalised. The Greene King scheme has an actuarial deficit of £25.3m, broadly in line with the last valuation, and the Spirit scheme has an actuarial surplus of £11.3m.

RETURN ON CAPITAL EMPLOYED

The group is focused on delivering the best possible returns on its assets and on the investments it makes and on capital discipline, through targeted investment in new build pubs, single site acquisitions and in developing its existing estate to drive organic growth alongside disposals of non-core pubs. ROCE of 8.5% has improved by 10 bps compared to the prior year and remains comfortably ahead of the group's cost of capital.

DIVIDEND

The board has recommended a final dividend of 24.4 pence per share, in line with last year, subject to shareholder approval. This will be paid on 13 September 2019 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 9 August 2019.

The proposed final dividend brings the total dividend for the year to 33.2 pence per share, in line with last year. This is in keeping with the board's policy of maintaining dividend cover of around two times underlying earnings, while continuing to invest for future growth.

IFRS 16

The new accounting standard is applicable for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2019, and will be applied for the first time by the group for the 53 weeks ending 3 May 2020.

The group has elected to use a modified retrospective approach in valuing the right-of-use asset on a site-by-site basis due to the age and complexity of the estate.

IFRS 16 will be recognised as an adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings as at 29 April 2019, with no restatement of comparative information.

The following table shows the estimated effect of adopting IFRS 16 on the consolidated balance sheet at 29 April 2019:

For the period ending 3 May 2020, the group's operating profit metric will improve by an estimated £15m under IFRS 16 as the new depreciation expense is expected to be lower than the IAS 17 operating lease charge; however finance costs are expected to be higher than this, estimated at £31m, such that net profit after tax and the underlying earnings metric are expected to be lower compared to the previous IAS 17 reporting basis.

There is no net cash flow impact on application of IFRS 16, although the classification of cash flows will be affected as operating lease payments under IAS 17 are presented as operating cash flows; whereas under IFRS 16, the lease payments will be split into a principal and an interest portion which will be presented as financing and operating cash flows respectively.

Richard Smothers

Chief financial officer

26 June 2019

Group income statement

for the 52 weeks ended 28 April 2019

1 Exceptional and non-underlying tax has been restated. As a consequence basic and diluted EPS has been restated. See note 4 for further details.

2 Adjusted basic and diluted earnings per share exclude the effect of exceptional and non-underlying items.

Group statement of comprehensive income

for the 52 weeks ended 28 April 2019

1 Exceptional and non-underlying tax has been restated. As a consequence profit for the period and total comprehensive income for the period, net of tax has been restated. See note 4 for further details.

Group balance sheet

as at 28 April 2019

1 Deferred tax, goodwill and retained earnings have been restated. See note 4 for further details.

Group cash flow statement

for the 52 weeks ended 28 April 2019

1 EBITDA represents earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and exceptional and non-underlying items.

GROUP Statement of changes in equity

for the 52 weeks ended 28 April 2019

Notes to the accounts

for the 52 weeks ended 28 April 2019

1 Basis of preparation

The consolidated financial statements and preliminary announcement of Greene King plc for the 52 week period ended 28 April 2019 were authorised for issue by the board of directors on 26 June 2019.

The financial information included within this preliminary announcement does not constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of Section 435 of the Companies Act 2006 (the "Act").

The financial information for the 52 week period ended 28 April 2019 has been extracted from the statutory accounts on which an unqualified audit opinion has been issued.

The 2019 Report & Accounts will be posted to shareholders on 6 August 2019 and copies will be available from that date from the company secretary at the registered office of the company, Westgate Brewery, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk IP33 1QT. The statutory accounts for the period ended 28 April 2019 will be delivered to the Registrar of Companies following the company's Annual General Meeting.

The statutory accounts for the prior financial year, for the 52 week period ended 29 April 2018, have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies, and the auditors have made a report thereon under Chapter 3 of part 16 of the Act. That report was unqualified and did not contain a statement under sections 498(2) or 498(3) of the Act.

The group identified a number of errors within its assessment of deferred tax which date back prior to the earliest prior period presented within these financial statements. See note 4 for further details.

The consolidated financial statements of Greene King plc and its subsidiaries have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as required by European Union law and as applied in accordance with the Companies Act 2006.

New accounting standards, amendments and interpretations adopted by the group

The accounting policies adopted are consistent with those of the previous financial year, other than the adoption of new accounting standards discussed below.

The group adopted IFRS 9 Financial Instruments on 30 April 2018 prospectively; therefore the information presented for comparative periods has not been restated and is presented, as previously reported, under IAS 39.

There has been no material impact of applying the revised standard.

The group adopted IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers on 30 April 2018 using the modified retrospective approach, without practical expedients.

The group has undertaken a review of its revenue streams under the new standard and has concluded that a large proportion of the revenue is recognised at the point of sale, when the goods or service is provided in its entirety to the customer in return for cash. Based on the group's review, it has concluded that IFRS 15 does not have a material impact on the recognition of revenue, consequently not having a material impact on the consolidated results and financial position. Additional disclosure requirements have been adopted in note 2 for the year ending 28 April 2019.

Standards issued but not yet effective

A number of new standards and amendments to standards are effective for annual periods beginning after 1 January 2019 and earlier application is permitted; however, the group has not early adopted them in preparing these consolidated financial statements. The group has the following updates to information provided in the last annual financial statements about the standards issued but not yet effective that may have a significant impact on the group's consolidated financial statements.

Notes to the accounts

for the 52 weeks ended 28 April 2019

1 Basis of preparation (continued)

IFRS 16 Leases 

The standard is effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2019 and replaces IAS 17 leases and related interpretations.

The group has applied IFRS 16 on 29 April 2019, using the modified retrospective approach. The cumulative effect of adopting IFRS 16 will be recognised as an adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings as at 29 April 2019, with no restatement of comparative information. The group will apply the election consistently to all of its leases.

When applying the modified retrospective approach to leases previously classified as operating leases under IAS 17, the group can elect, on a lease-by-lease basis, whether to apply a number of practical expedients on transition.

The group has elected to adopt the following practical expedients on transition to IFRS 16:

- not to reassess contracts to determine if the contract contains a lease and not to separate lease and non-lease elements;

- where an onerous lease provision is in existence, to utilise this provision to reduce the right-of-use asset value rather than undertaking an impairment review;

- to exclude initial direct costs from the measurement of the right-of-use as set;

- to apply the portfolio approach where a group of leases has similar characteristics; and

- to use hindsight in determining the lease term.

Impact of adoption of IFRS 16 Leases

Balance sheet

As at 28 April 2019, the group's future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases amounted to £1,848m, on an undiscounted basis. On 29 April 2019 the group will recognise a right-of-use lease asset of £900m (after adjustments for off market contract liabilities, intangible assets, onerous lease provisions, lease prepayments and accrued lease expenses at 28 April 2019) and a corresponding lease liability of £1,135m (non-current £1,100m; current £35m). A transition adjustment of £70m, net of estimated deferred tax of £15m, will be recognised as a debit to retained earnings as a result of applying the asset recalculated asset valuation option under the modified retrospective approach.

Operating lease intangibles of £102m, off-market contract liabilities of £237m and lease prepayments and lease incentives of £7m previously recognised in respect of the operating leases will be derecognised and the amount factored into the measurement of the right-of-use asset on transition to IFRS 16.

The provision for onerous lease contracts which was required under IAS 37 of £21m will be derecognised and factored into the measurement of the right-of-use assets.

On transition to IFRS 16, the group has elected to adopt the utilisation of onerous lease provision in existence at transition practical expedient. The group will utilise this provision to reduce the right-of-use asset value rather than undertake an impairment review on transition. The right-of-use assets will be tested for impairment in accordance with IAS 36 Impairment of Assets, replacing the previous requirement to recognise a provision for onerous lease contracts for the 53 weeks ending 3 May 2020.

No significant impact is expected for the group's finance leases.

Notes to the accounts

for the 52 weeks ended 28 April 2019

1 Basis of preparation (continued)

Income statement

Under IFRS 16 the group will see a different pattern of expense within the income statement, as the IAS 17 operating lease expense is replaced by depreciation and interest charges. For the 53 weeks ending 3 May 2020, the group's operating profit metric will improve by an estimated £15m under IFRS 16 as the new depreciation expense is expected to be lower than the IAS 17 operating lease charge; however net finance costs are expected to be higher than this, estimated at £31m, such that net profit after tax and the underlying earnings metric are expected to be materially lower compared to the previous IAS 17 reporting basis.

For short‑term leases, of 12 months or less, and leases of low-value assets, the group will opt to recognise a lease expense on a straight‑line basis as permitted by IFRS 16. The expenses attributable to these leases will continue to be recognised in the income statement as operating lease expenses.

Tax impact on changes to the income statement

The group will follow the accounting treatment and deduct depreciation and interest expense when calculating current tax. The tax deductions are not expected to be materially different compared to the previous IAS 17 reporting basis.

Cash flow statement

There is no net cash flow impact on application of IFRS 16, although the classification of cash flows will be affected as operating lease payments under IAS 17 are presented as operating cash flows, whereas under IFRS 16, the lease payments will be split into a principal and an interest portion which will be presented as financing and operating cash flows respectively. The change in presentation as a result of the adoption of IFRS 16 will see an improvement in 2020 of an estimated £85m in cash flow generated from operating activities, offset by a corresponding decline

in cash flow from financing activities.

Notes to the accounts

for the 52 weeks ended 28 April 2019

1 Basis of preparation (continued)

Impact on consolidated balance sheet at 29 April 2019 (extract)

The following table shows the estimated effect of adopting IFRS 16 on the consolidated balance sheet as at 29 April 2019:

The weighted average incremental borrowing rate applied to lease liabilities was 3.9%.

Notes to the accounts

for the 52 weeks ended 28 April 2019

2 Segment information

The group has three reportable segments that are largely organised and managed separately according to the nature of products and services provided, distribution channels and profile of customers. The segments include the following businesses:

Pub Company: Managed pubs and restaurants

Pub Partners: Tenanted and leased pubs

Brewing & Brands: Brewing, marketing and selling beer

These are also considered to be the group's operating segments and are based on the information presented to the chief executive, who is considered to be the chief operating decision maker. No aggregation of operating segments has been made.

Transfer prices between operating segments are set on an arm's length basis.

Notes to the accounts

for the 52 weeks ended 28 April 2019

2 SEGMENT INFORMATION (CONTINUED)

1 Other services include accommodation, rental and machine income.

2 EBITDA represents earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and exceptional and non-underlying items and is calculated as operating profit before exceptional and non-underlying items.

3 Unallocated assets/liabilities comprise cash, borrowings, pensions, net deferred tax, net current tax, derivatives and indirect tax provisions.

4 Exceptional and non-underlying tax has been restated.

Revenue from services includes rent receivable from licensed properties of £53.2m (2018: £53.6m).

Notes to the accounts

for the 52 weeks ended 28 April 2019

2 SEGMENT INFORMATION (CONTINUED)

Management reporting and controlling systems

Management monitors the operating results of its strategic business units separately for the purpose of making decisions about allocating resources and assessing performance. Segment performance is measured based on segment operating profit or loss referred to as trading profit in the group's management and reporting systems. Included within the corporate column in the table above are functions managed by a central division.

No information about geographical regions has been provided as the group's activities are predominantly domestic.

3 Exceptional AND NON-UNDERLYING items

1 Exceptional and non-underlying tax has been restated.Notes to the accounts

for the 52 weeks ended 28 April 2019

3 Exceptional AND NON-UNDERLYING items (Continued)

Exceptional and non-underlying operating costs

During the period to 28 April 2019 the group has recognised a net impairment loss of £56.7m (2018: £70.4m). This is comprised of an impairment charge relating to properties of £90.1m (2018: £76.1m) and reversal of previously recognised impairment losses of £35.1m (2018: £12.8m). In addition an impairment charge of £1.7m (2018: £7.1m) was recognised in relation to intangible assets during the year.

Of the impairment on properties, £33.6m impairment has been recognised in respect of a small number of pubs and is driven by changes in the local competitive and trading environment at the respective sites, and £20.6m due to a decision taken to exit some sites during the financial year. Impairment reversals have been recognised following an improvement in trading performance and an increase in amounts of estimated future cash flows for previously impaired sites or increases to fair value less costs of disposal. The impairment charge also includes £0.2m in respect of properties damaged by fire in the year, and £0.6m for de-contamination of a toxic nerve agent at the Salisbury Mill pub.

On 26 October 2018, the High Court issued a judgment in a claim involving Lloyds Banking Group's defined benefit pension schemes. This judgment concluded the schemes should be amended to equalise pension benefits for men and women in relation to guaranteed minimum pension benefits. The group has worked with the trustees of the schemes and independent actuaries and estimated the cost of equalising benefits at £4.9m. This cost has been recognised in the consolidated income statement as an exceptional item in the 52 weeks ended 28 April 2019 (2018: N/A). Further work will be carried out with the trustees to determine the exact impact and any subsequent changes to this amount in future periods will be treated as a change in actuarial assumption, and as such will be recognised in other comprehensive income.

During the period to 28 April 2019 the group incurred £6.2m (2018: £1.6m) of non-underlying employee related costs, which includes one off additional defined contribution pensions payments as well as a material restructuring cost associated with changes to management. These costs are associated with a head office and field team restructure to better align the Pub Company support centre and management structures to the simplified brand portfolio and to develop a more efficient organisation. A further £0.4m (2018: £1.9m) of non-underlying legal and professional fees have been incurred in relation to group refinancing activities and defending uncertain tax positions.

A charge of £4.4m (2018: £13.3m) has been incurred to increase the property lease provisions relating to onerous lease contracts.

The net profit on disposal of property, plant and equipment and goodwill of £17.0m (2018: £33.0m) comprises a total profit on disposal of £42.0m (2018: £62.5m) and a total loss on disposal of £25.0m (2018: £29.5m).

The pension and post-employment liabilities settlement gain relates to a past service credit, net of fees of £1.5m (2018: £nil), recognised for the Greene King Pension Scheme as a result of a Pension Increase Exchange exercise. Members who chose to take up their offers will receive no future increases to their pre-1997 pension in payment (excluding GMP pensions), in exchange for an immediate one-off increase in their current pension.

In the year the group received insurance compensation of £0.6m (2018: £1.8m) to meet the costs of restoring sites damaged by fire, flood or external contamination in a previous year.

Exceptional and non-underlying finance costs

During the period to 28 April 2019 the group settled financial liabilities in relation to the Spirit secured financing vehicle, recognising a net loss of £4.1m. In June 2018 £62.3m (30%) of the Spirit A4 secured bond was repaid and in September 2018 a further £51.9m (25%) of the Spirit A4 secured bond was repaid. In December 2018 the group, in an open-market transaction, purchased and subsequently cancelled £61.8m (39%) of the Spirit A5 secured bond. Exceptional gains or losses

Notes to the accounts

for the 52 weeks ended 28 April 2019

3 Exceptional AND NON-UNDERLYING items (Continued)

recognised in respect of these transactions amount to the difference between the carrying value of the repaid or cancelled bonds (comprising the nominal value and a fair value premium) and the settlement amount paid (comprising the sum of the nominal value and a prepayment penalty in the case of the A4 bonds, and the clean purchase price paid in the case of the A5 bonds).

During the prior period a net exceptional gain of £3.0m was recognised in respect of the termination of a financial guarantee provided by Ambac, the full repayment of the A1, A3, A6, and A7 Spirit secured bonds at their par value of £216.9m, and the termination of two interest rate swap contracts in connection with the repayment of these bonds.

In a prior year the group acquired as part of a business combination derivatives which have subsequently been accounted for at fair value through profit and loss as they were deemed at acquisition not to qualify for hedge accounting. An exceptional loss of £5.4m (2018: gain of £19.2m) relates to the mark-to-market movement on these derivatives, excluding amortisation of fair value on acquisition which reduces the pre-exceptional finance costs that include interest paid. Mark-to-market movements are considered to be exceptional owing to their volatility and are shown separately to ensure pre-exceptional finance costs are more readily comparable each year. Fair value amortisation is deemed to be a pre-exceptional item as it adjusts swap interest to a market rate.

In previous periods, the group settled a number of its swap liabilities that were hedging cash flows relating to the Greene King A5 bond and floating rate bank loans. These cash flows are still expected to occur and therefore in accordance with IAS 39 the cumulative losses taken to the hedging reserve will be recycled to the income statement over the same period during which the hedged forecast cash flows affect profit or loss. A non-underlying charge of £10.7m (2018: £11.6m) has been recognised in respect of this during the year.

Exceptional and non-underlying tax

On 29 March 2019 HMRC issued closure notices regarding the single remaining corporation tax enquiry regarding tax deductions claimed on capitalised revenue expenditure. The group has recognised a £4.1m exceptional tax charge and associated interest in the period, fully providing for the increased likelihood of exposure, following receipt of closure notices. This resulted in no cash tax impact for the year ended 28 April 2019.

On 16 October 2017 agreement was reached with HMRC regarding an internal property arrangement, a material unresolved historical tax position. As a result the group paid corporation tax of £9.4m and interest of £2.1m during the prior period.  

The £14.0m deferred tax in respect of the licensed estate in the prior period arose due to management's revision of  its estimate of the residual value of buildings from 80% to 85%.

The adjustment in respect of prior years' tax arises from finalising the tax returns for earlier periods and movements on the licensed estate.

The non-underlying tax credit in respect of the licensed estate in the prior year arises from movements in its tax base cost and indexation.

The Finance Act 2016 reduced the rate of corporation tax from 19% to 17% from 1 April 2020. The rate reduction was substantively enacted at the balance sheet date and is therefore included in these accounts. The net deferred tax asset has been calculated using the rates at which each temporary difference is expected to reverse.

The adjustment in respect of prior years' tax arises from finalising the tax returns for earlier periods and movements on the licensed estate.

Notes to the accounts

for the fifty-two weeks ended 28 April 2019

4 Taxation

The group's current tax position of £13.2m (2018: £10.2m receivable) reflects the amount of tax payable on open tax computations, and expected liabilities in respect of uncertain tax positions of £4.1m (2018: £nil) which has been recognised in the income statement in the period in respect of tax deductions claimed on capitalised revenue expenditure.

Prior year restatement

The group identified a number of errors within its assessment of deferred tax which date back prior to the earliest prior period presented within these financial statements. 

In line with IAS 8, the group has restated balances as at 30 April 2017, and restated its financial results for the period ending 29 April 2018.

The issues identified as at 30 April 2017 were as follows: