Greggs rolls out £17m staff bonus

A TYPICAL Greggs worker will be handed a £700 bonus after it raked in bumper profits and said sales would double by 2026.

Chief executive Roisin Currie said around 25,000 of its 32,000 staff will be rewarded in their March pay packets after ‘another year of rapid growth’.

The high Street baker usually dishes out 10pc of its annual profits to employees who have worked there for at least six months. This year’s £17.6m bonus pot represents slightly more – handing those eligible an average of £704 each.

A worker who does 22 hours a week and has been there for six years will receive £765.

And investors were given a special dividend of 40p a share, plus a 62p annual payout.

The handouts came after profits soared 13.1pc to £167.7m last year.

hot chicken goujons, potato wedges and pizzas flew off the shelves along with its sausage rolls and steak bakes as it expanded its evening hours.

This helped shop sales jump 13.7pc to £1.8bn. Greggs sold around 250m sausage rolls last year. Currie, who has run the firm since May 2022, said affordability was ‘ at the heart of Greggs’ and she does not plan to lift prices this year.

She said the group was ‘ not complacent’ about difficulties facing the high Street, despite inflationary pressures easing.

‘The consumer is still under pressure in terms of their disposable income,’ she said.

In a last-ditch plea, she said she hoped the Chancellor Jeremy hunt would ‘put money in consumer pockets’ at today’s Budget. Currie said she is confident Greggs will double revenues by 2026 with sales up 8.2pc in the first nine weeks of 2024.

Matt Britzman, equity analyst at investment platform hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘Greggs is far more than just a treat, and its value offering puts it in a sweet spot with consumers still battling higher living costs.’

Currie said Greggs will keep more shops open for longer to entice customers who ‘stop by our shops on their way home from work, looking for quick and easy evening meals and snacks’. Shares rose 2.1pc, or 58p, to 2774p yesterday.