Greggs sees “encouraging” sales since reopening, almost back to breakeven

It cancelled the final dividend for FY 2019 to preserve cash.

Greggs says it has seen “encouraging” sales since reopening, having almost recovered to breakeven levels following the lifting of the COVID-19 lockdown.

In its latest trading update, the company said sales at company-managed stores stood at 72% of the 2019 level in the most recent week, adding it could break even when sales reach about 80% of last year’s level.

Shops had reopened by July, offering a limited range of its best-sellers to takeaway customers, with Greggs saying it had brought about 75% of staff back to work. It had closed more than 2,000 stores for most of Q2.

“Greggs is now well prepared to deal with the challenges of social distancing and operate through the conditions we are faced with,” CEO Roger Whiteside said.

The bakery giant reported a pretax loss of 65.2 million pounds for the six months to 27 June, against a profit of 36.7 million pounds a year earlier. Sales declined to 300.6 million pounds from 546.3 million.