Turnover at Greggs has surpassed £2bn mark for the first time, with a record 226 new shops opened in its latest financial year.
In its Q4 trading update published this morning (9 January), the bakery chain reported that total sales had risen by 11.3% for the 52 weeks ended 28 December 2024 compared to the £1.8bn it generated in FY23.
Like-for-like revenue from company-managed shops was up by 5.5%, with 28 closures and 53 relocations resulting in 145 net new shop openings over the period, which it noted was in line with its target stated in January last year.
As of 28 December 2024, Greggs has a total of 2,618 shops trading, comprising 2,057 company-managed shops and 561 franchised units. It said it planned to continue its estate expansion momentum into 2025, in the range of 140 to 150 net new openings including 50 targeted relocations.
The company signed a lease in November for its new frozen product manufacturing and logistics facility in Derby, which is set to open in 2026 after completion of fit-out and commissioning. Another Q4 development for Greggs was having the planning application for its new chilled and ambient National Distribution Centre in Kettering approved – the land purchase has subsequently been completed this past week.
“Our supply chain investment is all on track,” commented Greggs CEO Roisin Currie. “We’re really pleased with that progress that gives us the capacity to be able to open up to 3,500 shops in the future.”
Currie said she felt “really confident about that future growth”, adding that there was a “strong pipeline for this year and beyond”. She highlighted that there were still lots of parts of the UK where consumers cannot access Greggs. “We’re making sure that we get into those locations. Whether that areas like transport locations and retail parks and roadside, there are so many opportunities for us in the future.”
Greggs said it would continue to broaden the appeal to existing and new customers through a combination of menu development, marketing, and extension into new channels and dayparts. Seasonal lines were reported to have been in high demand in the fourth quarter including its Festive Bake, Vegan Festive Bake and the all-new Festive Flatbread, the latter launched as part of its Balanced Choice range of healthier options.
Pizza continued to perform strongly during the day and into the evening, it said, with sales of pizza boxes and pizza bundle deals tracking upwards.
With inflation still driving prices up into 2025, Currie expressed that Greggs has “worked really hard at protecting its value deals, which we know are really important to customers”. This includes keeping the breakfast pastry, lunchtime savoury roll, and evening pizza meal deals all kept at £2.85. Meanwhile, the company rolled out wages increase at the start of the year which had two thirds of its staff members receiving a 6.1% increase in pay.
Despite double-digit growth recorded over the whole financial year, sales for the fourth quarter at Greggs were only 7.7% higher than the previous year with like-for-like sales in company-managed shops growing by just 2.5%. The company noted this trading performance reflected a well-publicised more challenging market backdrop in the second half of 2024 that resulted in subdued high street footfall.
“If you look at some of the data sources out there, consumer confidence has fallen since the summer. However, disposable incomes have actually increased,” said Currie. “We’re in a high employment economy, so lots of those macroeconomic factors actually should make us all feel positive.”
Greggs said its market share of visits had been maintained against this challenging backdrop – it remained its customers’ number one destination for breakfast and had controlled operational costs well.
“Our value-for-money offer and the quality of our freshly prepared food and drink position us well to meet the headwinds we expect to see in the year ahead, and we remain confident in the significant long-term opportunity for growth,” added Currie.
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