Bakery chain Greggs will open another store in city centre as profits increase

GREGGS looks set to open a new store in the heart of Belfast city centre, it can be revealed.

The bakery and sandwich chain has submitted plans for signage at a unit at Great Northern Mall on Great Victoria Street, close to the main bus and train station.

Greggs already has a series of stores in Belfast, and more than a dozen across Northern Ireland as a whole. Its most recent opening was in Omagh’s Showgrounds Retail Park.

The chain initially focused its attentions on Belfast, opening seven stores in as many months.

But in the past 18 months, the food company has spread across Northern Ireland at a rapid pace, adding stores in Ballymena, Bangor, Newry, Lisburn, Coleraine, Larne and Portadown.

The chain has said that the introduction of a vegan sausage roll has boosted performance.

At the end of July, it announced that pre-tax profits for the 26 weeks to June 29 rose more than 52% to £36.7m.

Roger Whiteside of Greggs

Underlying profits, which stripped out property gains and a £4m restructuring charge, were up 58% to £40.6m. Total sales were up 14.7% to £546m.

Chief executive Roger Whiteside added: “Given the strength of our year 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.”