The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)

Lockdown puts Greggs in the red

- AUGUST GRAHAM

Greggs is still struggling to reach the heady heights of last year even after reopening hundreds of sites across the UK, the baker revealed yesterday.

Last week, the company only sold around 72% of the pasties, drinks and sandwiches that it did in the same seven days in 2019.

However, it said it is finding sales encouragin­g as things slowly get back to normal.

Greggs bosses will hope for even more growth as the business contends with a swing to a major loss.

Last year, the chain made a pre-tax profit of £36.7 million in the first half of the year, but swung to a £65.2m loss in the six months to July.

Sales across the six months were down 45% to £300.6m.

This comes despite the fact that lifefor-like sales were up by 7.5% in the first nine weeks of the year.

Chief executive Roger Whiteside said: “Following successive years of unbroken growth, Greggs made a great start to 2020, coming into the year with momentum and clear strategic plans.

“The strength of our business model enabled us to secure the liquidity needed to support our business through the current crisis and then to adapt our operation and strategic investment plans in response to the new environmen­t.”

The firm said that around threequart­ers of its staff have now returned from furlough to offer a limited menu to customers.

The fast-food baker, which has introduced a vegan sausage roll and vegan steak bake to its product range, also said it is planning to launch clickand-collect and delivery services across the country to help increase sales.

Greggs reopened 800 of its shops for takeaways on June 18, while the rest of its stores began to gradually get back to work from July 2.

Bosses have slowed plans to open more shops – a key part of Greggs’ growth strategy.

In the first six months, the company closed 45 sites while opening only 20, and it expects to open around 60 and close 50 over the rest of the year.

There are 2,025 Greggs bakeries across the UK.

 ?? Picture: Kris Miller. ?? The fast-food baker swung to a loss for the first half of 2020.
Picture: Kris Miller. The fast-food baker swung to a loss for the first half of 2020.

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