British bakery Greggs delivers 'resilient performance' in first half-year report

Greggs, the largest bakery chain in the UK, reported that its total sales rose 5.2% to £476mn ($626.29mn) during its first half-year of trading. 

For the six months to 30 June 2018, the firm’s underlying operating profit, excluding exceptional items, fell from £27.6mn to £25.7mn. 

Roger Whiteside, chief executive of Greggs, praised the firm, noting that it had “delivered a resilient performance despite challenging market conditions.”

Extreme weather and challenging market conditions had impacted the company but, despite this, it has seen continued growth in developing strategic categories such as hot drinks, breakfast, healthier choices and hot food options. 

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Whiteside added: “We have continued to make good progress with our strategic investment programme to transform the business into the customers’ favourite for food on the go.

“While we remain cautious in respect of the outlook for sales in the balance of the year given the consumer backdrop, we are confident in the medium and long-term growth potential for the business, supported by customers’ response to our initiatives, our strong cash generation and the ongoing strategic investments that we are making.

“Over the year as a whole, we continue to believe that underlying profits (before exceptional costs) are likely to be at a similar level to 2017.”