World Cup 2018: Greene King hopeful for England sales boost

The Suffolk-based brewer and pubs group had budgeted for only three England matches, but the team is already guaranteed a place in the last 16.

It sold 420,000 pints in a four-hour period around the Tunisia match, 450,000 for Panama and was expecting 465,000 for last night’s match against Belgium.

Annual adjusted pre-tax profit fell 11.2 per cent to £243 million on 1.8 per cent lower revenue of £2.17 billion.

Rooney Anand, the chief executive of the Suffolk-based business, said: “[Harry Kane’s] hat-trick on Sunday helped us sell nearly half a million [more] pints during the game.

“It remains true that when the sun shines or sport is on, people do want to go to the pub.”

He added: “A lot of beer is being drunk, a lot of cider and gin. Gin sales are up 50 percent year on year.”

It comes just days after Mr Anand described industry conditions as “challenging”.

He said: “We made good progress improving the performance of the business during the second half of the year, despite a challenging trading environment.

“While it is still early days, this positive momentum has continued into the new financial year, aided by good weather and popular sporting events.”