Trump announces trade deal with EU following months of negotiations
Investing.com -- British bakery chain Greggs (LON:GRG) saw its shares leap 6% in London trading Tuesday after it reported a jump in its sales for the first 20 weeks of 2025, with performance strengthening in the most recent 11 weeks, supported by better trading conditions.
The company’s total sales increased 7.4% year over year to £784 million, with like-for-like (LFL) sales rising 2.9%.
"Greggs has reported LFLs of +2.9% for the first 20wks of FY25, marking an acceleration from the first 9wks (+1.7%). This implies a run-rate through the stub period of c.+3.9%, an improvement that we had largely expected," Jefferies analysts commented.
"In our view, this should give additional reassurance that the annualisation of the step-down in volumes in H2’24 should yield another step up in LFLs as we progress through FY25. The shares have begun to recover, but we see more to go for and retain our positive stance," they added.
Greggs opened 66 new shops during the period, resulting in 20 net new openings and bringing the total number of outlets to 2,638. It remains confident in achieving 140 to 150 net openings for the full year.
The company said product innovation continues to support growth, with over-ice drinks and hot food options such as Mac and Cheese gaining traction.
Greggs also reiterated that its investment programme remains on track. Cost inflation expectations are unchanged at around 6% on a like-for-like basis.
"The improved LFL sales performance has been delivered in what remains a challenging market context, and during a period that compares with our strongest performance in 2024," Greggs said in the release.
"Our plans for managing the inflationary headwinds are progressing well and, whilst early in the financial year, the Board’s expectations for the full year outcome remain unchanged."