Highlights
- Greggs Plc (Lon: GRG) reported an increase in its annual revenue with a slide uptick in yearly profits of 2%.
- The bakery chain also registered a pretax profit of £3 million.
- Greggs's new shop openings in 2022 stood at 2,328 shops as of 31 December.
One of the leading British bakers and fast food chains Greggs Plc (Lon: GRG), on 7 March, reported an increase in its annual revenue with a slide uptick in yearly profits of 1.9%. The prominent fast food retailer in the UK operates 2,050 retail outlets nationwide.
Following the announcement, the GRG stock opened in the red zone, witnessing a loss of -0.30% at GBX 2,680.00 on March 88. The FTSE-250 constituent, Greggs Plc, had a market cap of £2,747.04 million and an EPS of 1.16 at the time of market opening. The bakers and fast-food chain had given its investors returns of 17.37% and 14.22% on a one-year and YTD basis, respectively.
Stronger and better
The recent results mark an exceptional year for Greggs Plc as it boasted a record number of shop openings and like-for-like sales ahead of pre-pandemic levels. Greggs new shop openings in 2022 stood at 2,328 shops as of 31 December. This year, the company has set a target of 150 new openings.
The bakery chain also registered a pretax profit of £148.3 million. This was up by 1.9% from £145.6 million the previous year, while revenue rose 23% to £.51 billion from £1.23 billion. Greggs’s like-for-like sales were 18% higher year-on-year and 15% higher than in 2019.
The company is aggressive in returning in a stronger and better form this year. In a statement, the company said that after being bogged down by the unprecedented disruption to trading caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, it aims to build on the strong 2022.
That said, cost inflation could challenge almost all retailers as inflation levels reach 9%-10%. This was largely due to the workforce strike issues and rising energy prices.
Chair Matt Davies, following the report, said he was quite confident that despite challenging macroeconomic conditions, Greggs has performed strongly. He added that the demand has been robust despite Brits reducing spending.
Outlook for FY23
For FY23, the Greggs’ company-managed shop like-for-like sales in the first nine weeks have already witnessed a spike of 18.8%. It remains confident in the prospects for the business in 2023 and claims to be well-placed to realize the opportunity to become a significantly larger, multi-channel business.