Greggs, the UK retailer specialising in sandwiches, savouries and other bakery products, has reported record pre-tax profits of £36.7 million (€53.3m), up 12 per cent on the previous year.
And the records did not stop there. The company also said that sales exceed £400 million (in fact, growing 11.9 per cent to £422 million) and shop numbers topped 1,200 for first time during the year. Like-for-like sales growth was 6.4 per cent for the year, driven by continued strong demand for takeaway food.
"Greggs is the market leader in a growing sector, with strong brands, proven formats and exceptional people. Despite further cost pressures we believe that the group is well placed to achieve another year of satisfactory progress in 2003," said Derek Netherton, chairman.
The group traded satisfactorily throughout the year, with like-for-like sales growth slowing as expected in the second half, Netherton said, especially when compared to the exceptionally strong performance achieved in the latter part of 2001. The Greggs brand maintained its good progress, and a year of record capital investment saw an increase in the pace of new shop openings - a net addition of 58 stores to give a total of 1,202 at the year end.
Trading since the start of the new financial year has been satisfactory, he added, with like-for-like sales in the first nine weeks up 5.2 per cent. Results to date are ahead of the comparable period last year, Netherton said.
"Since the year end we have opened our first two shops outside the UK, at Leuven and Antwerp in Belgium, and plan a controlled trial of the Greggs format in that country which will involve a small number of additional openings in the months ahead. The main thrust of our expansion will continue to be in the UK where we plan to add a further 45 new units, net of closures. We will also make significant further investments in UK manufacturing capacity, to keep pace with our retail expansion."
The well-established trend to takeaway food categories continued to drive sales across the group, led by savouries and sandwiches and supported by complementary products such as drinks. Cakes and confectionery products again remained fairly stable as a proportion of the company's trade, while the traditional bakery staples such as bread and rolls continued to decline, added Mike Darrington, managing director.