Greggs perks up with coffee sales

FROTHING sales of coffee and a revamped range of sandwiches have helped bakery chain Greggs deliver a 41 per cent surge in annual profits.

The bakery chain is reorganising its estate of outlets. Picture: Neil Hanna

The firm said yesterday that coffee was its fastest-growing product category in the year to 3 January, with sales of £1 million a week during the run-up to Christmas.

That performance drove total sales up 5.5 per cent to £804m, with pre-tax profits before one-off items reaching £58.3m, up from £41.3m the previous year.

During the year, Greggs opened 50 stores but closed 71, leaving it with a portfolio of 1,650 branches.

Chief executive Roger Whiteside said the firm expects to open up to 100 shops in the current year, but as many as 80 are set to close to improve “quality and performance”. Greggs has a long-term target of having more than 2,000 outlets.

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