Greggs reports 5.2% increase in total sales for first half of 2018
Healthier choices and hot food options are among the drivers of their continued growth.
Greggs has announced that sales rose by 5.2% to £476 million in the first half of 2018, despite "extreme weather conditions."
"Greggs has delivered a resilient performance despite challenging market conditions and we have continued to make good progress with our strategic investment programme to transform the business into the customers' favourite for food-on-the-go," chief executive Roger Whiteside said in the interim report.
Company-managed shop like-for-like sales also went up by 1.5%, with reported pre-tax profit including property profits and exceptional charge amounting to £24.1 million.
Developing strategic categories including hot drinks, breakfast, healthier choices and hot food options were some of the drivers for the company's growth. Strong demand for value meal deals were expanded while shop opening programmes "progressing well."
As of June 30, there are a total of 1,888 Greggs shops trading.
"While we remain cautious in respect of the outlook for sales in the balance of the year given the consumer backdrop, we are confident in the medium and long-term growth potential for the business, supported by customers' response to our initiatives, our strong cash generation and the ongoing strategic investments that we are making. Over the year as a whole we continue to believe that underlying profits (before exceptional costs) are likely to be at a similar level to 2017," Whiteside added.
