Greene King has announced on Thursday its interim results for the 24 weeks to 14 October 2018. The pub group has revealed that Christmas bookings are well ahead of last year and it is performing well in line with expectations. Shares in the company (LON:GNK) edged up just over 4% as a result of the news.

During the period, pre-tax profit increased 3.2% to £127.7 million, with group revenue totalling £1.1 billion. Group revenue is 1.9% higher than it was during the same period a year earlier.

The Pub Company’s like-for-like sales were up 2.7% which is ahead of the market up 1.1%. This strong performance was driven by the ongoing benefits of Greene King’s investment value and the UK’s hot summer and World Cup success.

Greene King sold 3.7 million pints of beer during England’s seven World Cup matches.

Indeed, the company reported a soar in beer sales as a result of the country’s World Cup success, combined with the hot weather. Though the company reported an 11% fall in annual pre-tax profits in June as a result of poor weather, this seemed to have recovered over the World Cup period.

The company’s interim dividend remains unchanged at 8.8p per share. Moreover, Greene King remains on tack to limit full year net cost inflation to £10-20 million.

The company’s Chief Executive Officer, Rooney Anand, commented on the results:

“We have seen continued positive momentum in Pub Company, which was sustained beyond the boost of the World Cup and the summer weather. The hard work of our teams, combined with the investments we made to improve our customer experience, is driving sales outperformance to the market. We remain highly cash generative, meeting our debt repayment requirements, investing in our pubs and paying an attractive, sustainable dividend out of operating free cashflow. Good progress was made refinancing the Spirit debenture, which will reduce the cost of our debt and increase the strength and flexibility of our balance sheet.

“Looking forward, Christmas bookings are up on last year and we look forward to ensuring customers have a great time celebrating the festive season in our pubs. Ongoing uncertainty around Brexit may impact on consumer confidence, but as a team we are focused on our key strategic priorities and remain confident of our outlook for the financial year.”

Retail sales also grew rapidly as a result of the summer heatwave and the World Cup.

At 13:28 GMT today, shares in Greene King plc (LON:GNK) were trading at +4.29%.