UK’s Greggs shows resilience with quarterly sales rise

UK’s Greggs shows resilience with quarterly sales rise

LONDON (Reuters) -British baker and fast food chain Greggs kept its full-year outlook as underlying sales rose in the third quarter and it won market share, showing the resilience of its value offer in a cost of living crisis now into a second year.

Greggs also said on Tuesday the rate of cost inflation had eased as it annualised the significant commodity-led increases it saw in 2022.

The group’s sausage rolls, steak bakes, vegan snacks and sweet treats have chimed with Britons whose income has been dented by high inflation. Its shares are up 45% over the last year.

Greggs’ like-for-like sales in company-managed shops rose 14.2% year-on-year over the 13 weeks to Sept. 30, its fiscal third quarter, having been up 16.0% in the first half. Total sales rose 20.8%.

Greggs opened a net 82 stores in the quarter, taking the total to 2,410.

It also extended trading hours into the early evening at more stores, increased customer participation in its app, and further developed its delivery service with a second partner, Uber Eats.

Greggs said the board’s expectations for full-year results were unchanged.

Prior to Tuesday’s update analysts were on average forecasting a 2023 pretax profit of 165 million pounds ($199 million), according to Refinitiv data, up from 148.3 million pounds in 2022.

($1 = 0.8283 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young, Paul Sandle and Sharon Singleton)