Greene King first-half profit up 2.8 pct

Greene King, Britain's fourth-biggest pubs company, reported a 2.8 percent rise in first-half profit, driven by a strong appetite for pub food, and said it had acquired seven new managed pubs in Scotland.

Greene King, which has about 2,400 pubs in England and Scotland, on Tuesday posted a pretax profit of 62.4 million pounds for the 24 weeks to October 18 on sales 4.3 percent higher at 464.5 million pounds.

The company said like-for-like retail sales grew by 4.6 percent during the period and that margins were robust.

"Since the period end, strong trading across our businesses has continued... but the consumer outlook for 2010 remains uncertain" the company said in a statement.

Greene King also said it had agreed to acquire seven pubs in Scotland from Mitchells & Butlers for 12.7 million pounds, which would be financed from the funds raised by its rights issue.

Shares in Greene King, which have risen by a quarter so far this year, closed at 401.30 pence on Monday, valuing the group at around 870 million pounds.