Greggs has today provided some better news for the ailing High Street with its chain of food-to-go stores delivering strong sales growth and a jump in profits.
Over the 26 weeks to 29 June, the group’s total sales rose 14.7% to £546m, driven by a 10.5% uplift in like-for-like sales in its company-managed shops. Underlying pre-tax profit, excluding property gains and exceptional charges, climbed 58% to £40.6m.
Greggs attributed the strong trading to the popularity of its new vegan-friendly sausage roll, as well as the expansion of its food-to-go offering beyond its traditional bakery favourites. Coffee, breakfast and new hot food options were said to be selling well.
The group continued its expansion programme with a net 31 openings during the half, putting it on track for around 100 new shops for the year as a whole. It ended the period with 1,984 outlets. Greggs is also currently trialling click & collect and delivery options to grow its reach.
Chief Executive Roger Whiteside said: “Greggs has delivered an exceptional first half performance, building on the strong finish to 2018. We have continued to make strategic progress with our programmes of investment in infrastructure to support future growth and in developing the products and channels to market that will help achieve our ambition to be the customers’ favourite for food-on-the-go.”
Given the strong performance, he revealed that the business had decided to “increase investment in strategic initiatives in the second half of the year to help to deliver an even stronger customer proposition and further growth in the years ahead”.
However, Whiteside warned that Brexit continued to “present significant uncertainties” and it was building up supplies of key ingredients in order to mitigate any potential supply chain disruption and exchange rate pressures.
