In the run-up to his first outing as chief executive of Greene King, Nick Mackenzie was braced to face three key questions: would he consider exiting brewing, would he sell its tenanted pubs and would he cut the dividend? Given that he’s been in the job only two months, it was no surprise that the answer to all three was “no”.
Once he’s well and truly got his feet under the table, he may decide to revisit those options but, for now, brewing and tenanted pubs both provide cash to reinvest in expanding and maintaining its core managed pubs, to reduce debt and to provide the sort of dividend payments shareholders are loath to give up. In the case of brewing, it also provides