LONDON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Greene King said tougherdrink-driving laws in Scotland had added to weak trading eitherside of Christmas across the British pubs group, keepingunderlying sales flat.
The group, which operates almost 2,000 pubs including HungryHorse, as well as breweries, said like-for-like sales at its ownmanaged pubs in the six weeks to Jan. 11 were in line with lastyear and up 0.6 percent after 36 weeks.
That was below a 3.5 percent rise expected by Cenkos analystSimon French and a market up almost 3 percent, according toindustry data.
Greene King said it had been up against a tough comparativefrom last year, adding that trading had been slow prior toChristmas and soft into 2015. Demand in Scotland had also beencrimped by a new law which makes the legal drink-drive limitlower than elsewhere in the UK.
Underlying sales over the two-week Christmas and New Yearperiod rose 2.0 percent, however, with record sales on ChristmasDay. Like-for-like sales were up 2.8 percent at its tenanted andleased division after 36 weeks.
The group said it expected its 774 million pound ($1.17billion) takeover of Spirit Pubs to complete during the firsthalf of 2015.
The takeover, which was agreed in November, followingSpirit's rejection of an earlier approach from Magners cidermaker C&C Group, was backed by shareholders last week.
The deal will create one of the biggest pub groups inBritain, with over 3,000 pubs, restaurants and hotels, boostingGreene King's exposure to a fast-growing casual dining market.
($1 = 0.6602 pounds) (Reporting by Neil Maidment)
