Member Article

Greggs reveals 7% sales growth for 2016 after strong Christmas

Newcastle-headquartered Greggs has reported a strong end to 2016, marking a year of good progress with a 7% growth in sales for the period ending 31 December 2016.

The bakery food-on-the-go retailer, which owns over 1,750 retail outlets throughout the country, also saw company-managed shop like-for-like sales increase by 4.2%.

Sales over the Christmas period were particularly strong, said Greggs, aided by a favourable trading pattern and, as a result, fourth quarter company-managed shop like-for-like sales grew by 6.4 per cent.

Excluding the final two weeks of the year fourth quarter like-for-like sales growth was 4.1 per cent.

During the year Greggs opened 145 new shops (including 56 franchised units) and closed 79, growing the estate to 1,764 shops trading as at 31 December 2016.

The retailer now owns 157 franchised shops operated by partners in travel and other convenience locations.

The business explained that its estate management programme included the closure of a number of freehold shops and an office building. This resulted in disposal gains in the year of £2.2m, £1.5 - 2m higher than might be expected in an average year.

Roger Whiteside, Chief Executive, said: “We finished 2016 well, delivering our thirteenth consecutive quarter of like-for-like sales growth, and anticipate that we will report full year results for 2016 slightly ahead of our previousexpectations.

“In the year ahead, whilst we will undoubtedly see a number of well-documented industry headwinds, we are confident we will continue to make progress with the implementation of our strategic plan, including significant investment in our capability to supply a growing shop estate.”