Greggs delivers a reasonably tasty trading update
Trading under the Greggs and Bakers Oven brands, sales increased in the second half from its 1,300 retail outlets.
Group Managing Director Sir Michael Darrington reported today: “Group like-for-like sales in our second half, comprising the 28 weeks to 31 December 2005, increased by 3.0 per cent. Underlying like-for-like sales growth was approximately 2 per cent, after adjusting for the benefit of additional trading days over the Christmas period compared with 2004.
Like-for-like sales over the Christmas and New Year trading period, comprising the five weeks to 7 January 2006, showed an improvement of 5.4 per cent. However, comparisons are again distorted by the inclusion of additional trading days in 2005/06, and underlying like-for-like sales progress during this period was negligible.
During the year we opened 72 new shops and closed 16, giving us a net addition of 56 units and a total of 1,319 at 31 December. This was ahead of the target stated in our interim report.
Despite substantial cost pressures during the year, notably in energy, we have made some progress in controlling our costs in what is undoubtedly a more challenging trading environment. We therefore expect to report modest progress, in line with market expectations, when we make our preliminary results announcement, scheduled for Friday, 10 March 2006.”
