As one of the largest British owned beer retailer and brewer, Greene King has been playing a leading role in local beer industry for over 200 years. This report aims to discover Greene King’s business status by analyzing the company’s annual reports and conclude recommendations for potential investors based on the results. In order to evaluate the company’s performance and potential, the report focused on ratio analysis, (including profitability, efficiency, liquidity, gearing and investment). By comparing and contrasting with its major competitor in the market: Matson’s for the last five years (2013 included), future investors will have a better picture of Greene King and the whole beer industry.
Background information--- Company and industry
The United Kingdom has been a major beer brewing country worldwide ever since prehistoric times. Beer and bar have already become significant aspects of British culture. For the past hundreds of years, beer industry had experienced its booming and blossom all over the world. However, Beer industry, especially in UK, has been going through a tough down turn for the last decade. Due to the influence of inflation and recession, beer price has been rising after government imposed heavier taxes for the whole alcohol industry. As a result, consumer confidence has been negatively affected severely: since much less consumers are willing to pay extra to drink out. Despite all the hindrance, Greene King, one of UK’s top beer retailer and manufacturer, managed to not only maintain their business ,but also made profit gain while most competitors suffered major losses during and after the economic crisis. Greene King is an UK local beer brewer company with over 200 years of history. The company’s business runs in three major operations: running local retailing pubs and restaurants, pub partnership business by renting, leasing or franchising and beer brewing. According to London stock exchange, Greene King is