Venters leaves Belhaven

In the same week that Greene King, the pub operator and brewer best known in Scotland for Belhaven Best, posted a resilient jump in half-time sales and profits the news that Euan Venters, Managing Director of Brewing and Brands was leaving the company came as a surprise. Euan replaced former Belhaven boss Stuart Ross in 2008, when he joined the company as managing director of Belhaven. Last year he took on the role of Managing Director of Brewing & Brands for Greene King.
Said a spokesperson for Greene King, “We can confirm that Euan Venters, Managing Director of Brewing & Brands, will be leaving Greene King at the end of December 2012. We’d like to thank Euan for the great contribution he has made to Greene King, and also specifically to Belhaven, over the last four years and he leaves with our best wishes. We will make an announcement about his successor in due course.”
Euan told DRAM, “It has been an honour and a privilege to lead the Belhaven and Greene King Brewing and Brands teams and I am very proud of what we have achieved together over the last four years. My current role required me to be away from home for most of the week and this became unfair on the family and unmanageable. I will be looking for a new challenge and wish the Belhaven and GK teams continued success.”
Greene King, which now runs about 2,300 pubs, restaurants and hotels, reported a 4.3% rise in like-for-like sales in the 24 weeks to 14 October. With total group revenues growing 7.3% to more than £566m and a 7% rise in pre-tax profits to £82.7m, The group’s brewing and brands division saw its core own-brewed volumes fall 0.9% against a UK ale market down 3%.