Greene King is offloading its Old Speckled Hen range of beers to Spain’s SA Damm as part of a decision to stop selling into the UK off-trade.
The deal, struck for an undisclosed sum, is part of a change in strategy at Greene King, with the UK brewer and pub-group pointing to a “declining cask ale market” in the country.
The company will cease producing its Greene King beers for UK off-trade customers next year when it opens a new brewery in its home town of Bury St Edmunds. Instead, it will focus its efforts with those brands on its own pubs and the wider UK on-premise. Greene King will also stop brewing the brands for export markets.
Damm’s purchase of the Old Speckled Hen range, which includes the namesake ale, means those brands will remain on sale in the country’s off-trade.
The Old Speckled Hen portfolio accounted for more than half of Greene King’s sales in the UK off-trade.
“Brewing beer in Bury St Edmunds to be sold in pubs is what we have been doing for more than 200 years,” Greene King CEO Nick Mackenzie said. “By making this core to our renewed brewing strategy, we are proposing optimising our brewing operations to focus on winning where we are strongest, delivering our beers to the pubs where our customers most love to drink them and setting Greene King up for long-term profitable growth.”
Greene King underlined the changes do not cover its Belhaven brewery in Scotland. Belhaven beers will continue to be pushed through the off-trade and into export markets.
Damm said its acquisition of the Old Speckled Hen portfolio – including Old Golden Hen and Old Crafty Hen – “marks a new era for one of the UK’s most recognised premium ale brand”.
The group plans to brew the range at its site in the UK town of Bedford after an unspecified “handover period”.
Luke White, the MD of Damm’s operations in the UK, said: “The brand not only complements the current portfolio range by adding another category to our offering but it also reconnects the Damm Eagle Brewery to its historic British beer and ale production roots.”
