Greggs has recorded a jump in its interim profits as demand rose driven by the popularity of its new vegan sausage roll.
The food-to-go retailer recorded a 58% spike in underlying pre-tax profit to £40.6m in the six months to June 29.
Sales rose 14.7% to £546m year on year, bolstered by a 10.5% uplift in like-for-like sales from company-managed stores.
The retailer credited its sales to continued momentum built during the end of 2018 by the launch of its vegan-friendly sausage roll.
Greggs’ margins during the period rose to 7.5%, up from 5.4% during the same period the previous year, which the business attributed to “strong sales growth and operational cost control”.
The food retailer opened 53 new stores during the period and closed 23, taking its overall store network to 1,984. The business said it is on track to open a total of 100 new outlets during its current financial year.
Chief executive Roger Whiteside said: “Greggs has delivered an exceptional first-half performance, building on the strong finish to 2018.
“We have continued to make strategic progress with our programmes of investment in infrastructure to support future growth and in developing the products and channels to market that will help achieve our ambition to be the customers’ favourite for food on the go.
“Given the strength of our year to date and the outlook, we have decided to increase investment in strategic initiatives in the second half of the year to help to deliver an even stronger customer proposition and further growth in the years ahead. Our expectations for underlying profits for the year as a whole remain unchanged.”
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