Greene King owns a selection of well-known beer brands

The firm, which brews Old Speckled Hen and Abbot Ale, said its purchase of the Laurel pub chain and brewer Ridley's helped boost profits to �55.8m ($97m).

Greene King recently bought Scotland's last independently-listed brewer, Bellhaven, whose beers include Belhaven Best, 80 Shilling, and St Andrews Ale.

The company said that the integration of Belhaven was "running to plan".

Rooney Anand, Greene King chief executive, said: "This is another strong set of results with all of our divisions delivering good organic growth at improved margins."