Greggs’ sales topped £2bn for the first time last year although growth continues to slow.
The bakery chain saw revenue rise 11.3% to £2.0bn in the year to 28 December, while pre-tax profits were up 8.3% to £203.9m.
However, much of the growth was driven by new store openings with like-for-like sales - comparing the same number of stores to 2023 - up a more modest 5.5%.
It means revenue continues to slow with like-for-like sales in the first nine weeks of 2025 up just 1.7%, the company said.
Greggs’ share price plummeted 10% in January after the chain disappointed with sales growth of just 2.5% in the Christmas quarter.
In 2021, Greggs set its sights on doubling sales by 2026, said CEO Roisin Currie. “Three years into this five-year plan, sales are on track and we continue to be confident in the growth opportunity in front of us.”
Currie said to try and maximise growth, Greggs is building two large new sites in the Midlands, a frozen product manufacturing and logistics facility in Derby and a chilled and ambient National Distribution Centre in Kettering. These sites will allow it to service up to 3,500 shops.
Greggs now operates over 2600 stores in the UK and is targeting another 140 to 150 net openings in 2025. It said it sees a “clear opportunity for significantly more than 3,000 UK shops over longer term”.
The chain is trying to target the evening food-to-go market which is now the fastest growing time of day but still only makes up 9% of total sales. Almost half of Greggs shops now serve until 7pm or later and it launched new pizza boxes last year to try and draw in shoppers.
Food-on-the-go is now showing signs of recovery from a Covid-induced collapse with volumes across supermarkets and on-the-go stores like Greggs up 7.7% last year, according to Kantar. Savoury pastries grew 15.1% making them one of best performing items.
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