UK: Britain's biggest regional brewer, Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries, has reported a 5.3 % rise in half-year profits and says current trading is satisfactory and in line with expectations. The brewer of Pedigree, Banks's and Mansfield beers and owner of just over 1,600 pubs reported underlying pre-tax profits of 31.7 million pounds for the 26 weeks to March 27, largely in line with analyst forecasts of around 31-32 million pounds, under the Reuters’ report.

The group on Friday raised its half-year dividend payout to shareholders by 10.1 % to 12.0 pence a share. It added that like-for-like sales at its managed pubs rose 2.8 percent in the half-year and the group said like-for-like sales to date showed a similar trend.

21 May, 2004