FDBusiness.com

Greggs, the UK’s leading bakery retailer, increased pre-tax profit by 7.9% to a record £52.5m for the 52 weeks ended January 2nd 2011. Sales rose by 2.1% to £662m and by 0.2% on a like-for-like basis, as Greggs achieved a record numbers of new shop openings and refits, expanding its retail business through a net addition of 68 new shops.

Greggs now has over 1,480 retail outlets serving six million customers each week. Operating profit grew by 8.1% to £52.4m and the operating margin improved from 7.4% to 7.9%, reflecting a full year’s benefit from actions taken in 2009 to reorganise the business, harmonise the product range and create a single brand.

Ken McMeikan, chief executive of Greggs.

“In 2010 we grew sales and achieved record profits despite the tough trading conditions across the UK. We’ve made Greggs accessible to many more customers through our new shop opening programme, bringing them the great value, freshness and quality that our existing customers already enjoy,” says Ken McMeikan, chief executive of Greggs. “Whilst 2011 will see further pressures on consumer spending and rising global commodity prices our strong value positioning, excellent products, outstanding staff and clear strategy for growth mean that we are well positioned to deal with this challenging environment.”

In addition to planning to open around 80 net new shops in 2011, Greggs also anticipates marginally positive like-for-like sales growth. Performance in the year to date is in line with expectations with total sales increasing by 3.8% including like-for-like sales of 0.4%.