29th Jul 2015 07:48
LONDON (Alliance News) - Greggs PLC Wednesday reported a big rise in profit in the first half of 2015 and said it is confident it will deliver a good year of growth ahead of its previous expectations.
Shares in Greggs were trading up 5.3% at 1,247.10 pence on Wednesday morning, the third best performer in the FTSE 250.
The bakery and food-to-go retailer reported a jump in pretax profit in the 26 weeks to July 4 to GBP25.6 million from GBP8.6 million, as revenue grew to GBP398.4 million from GBP374.4 million. It said that revenue was boosted by an improvement in its products and due to investments it made into its shop estate. Profit also had been hit the year before by exceptional costs of GBP8.3 million.
Greggs will pay an interim dividend of 7.4 pence, up from the 6.0p it paid the year before.
"We have had a strong first half with good growth in sales reflecting improvements in our products and the reaction to our shop investment programme. Our offer of great tasting food-on-the-go is being well received by the consumer in market conditions that have remained favourable. In particular we have seen significant growth in breakfast sales as well as from the extension of our 'Balanced Choice' range of sandwiches and flatbreads with fewer than 400 calories," Chief Executive Roger Whiteside said in a statement.
"With the shop refurbishment programme continuing to progress well and new additions to the product range including pizza slices, we are confident of delivering a year of good growth slightly ahead of our previous expectations," he added.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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