Greggs enjoys strong first half
Greggs saw its own-shop like-for-like sales climb by 5.9% in the first half of its financial year as the bakery chain benefited from buoyant sales in its extended lower calorie range and further growth in sales of breakfast items.
Total sales in the six months to 4 July rose by 6.4% to £398 million. Pre-tax profit was £25.6 million compared to £16.9 million in the same period in the previous year.
Greggs chief executive Roger Whiteside said: “We have had a strong first half with good growth in sales reflecting improvements in our products and the reaction to our shop investment programme.
“Our offer of great tasting food-on-the-go is being well received by the consumer in market conditions that have remained favourable. In particular we have seen significant growth in breakfast sales as well as from the extension of our “Balanced Choice” range of sandwiches and flatbreads with fewer than 400 calories.”
During the period, Greggs completed 118 shop refurbishments to its new “bakery food-on-the-go” format and also began the conversion of its larger bakery cafés in line with plans to update 200 to 220 shops during 2015.
Greggs opened 44 new shops, including 25 franchise units, and closed 30 stores, which meant there was a total of 1,664 shops trading at 4 July. The retailer expects shop numbers for the full year to increase by a net 20 to 30 shops overall.
Whiteside continued: “With the shop refurbishment programme continuing to progress well and new additions to the product range including pizza slices, we are confident of delivering a year of good growth slightly ahead of our previous expectations.”
