Britain's Greggs building capacity for 3,500 stores
Currently trades from 2,500 shops
Previous stated target was "significantly more" than 3,000
Underlying sales up 7.4% in first 19 weeks of 2024
Expectations for full year unchanged
Recasts lead, adds CEO quote paragraph 5, shares paragraph 15
By James Davey
LONDON, May 14 (Reuters) -British baker and fast food retailer Greggs GRG.L is building logistics capacity for a store estate of around 3,500, up from the 2,500 shops it currently trades from, it said on Tuesday.
The company, based in Newcastle, northeast England, is famous for its sausage rolls, steak bakes and vegan alternatives and has proved a resilient performer through the cost of living crisis.
Greggs said it was progressing negotiations on the purchase of land in Corby/Kettering, central England, where it will develop a national distribution centre for chilled and ambient goods. The site will significantly extend its logistics capacity to around 3,500 shops.
Greggs' previously stated target was to eventually trade from "significantly more" than 3,000 shops.
"We're providing capacity for 3,500 because we can actually see a route plan in terms of the (geographical) catchments where we're under represented and also the locations where we're under represented," CEO Roisin Currie told Reuters in an interview.
She highlighted petrol forecourts, retail parks and transport sites as locations of under representation.
Greggs, which recently overtook McDonald's as Britain's No.1 breakfast on-the-go retailer, said its expectations for the full year were unchanged as it reported underlying sales growth of 7.4% for the first 19 weeks of 2024, despite "a challenging market".
It said delivery sales, evening trade and increased usage of the Greggs App all supported volume growth, or the number of items sold.
Greggs noted strong growth from hot food, with pizza boxes, Southern Fried Chicken Goujons and Southern Fried Potato Wedges performing well.
Total sales rose to 693 million pounds ($870 million), versus 609 million a year earlier.
The group has forecast "good progress" in 2024 on the underlying pretax profit excluding exceptional income of 168 million pounds it made in 2023.
Prior to Tuesday's update, analysts were on average forecasting 188 million pounds for 2024, according to LSEG data.
Greggs opened a net 27 new stores in the period and plans 140 to 160 new stores in 2024. It expects cost inflation of 4% to 5% in 2024.
Shares in Greggs were down 1.3%, paring 2024 gains to 8.8%.
($1 = 0.7964 pounds)
Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sachin Ravikumar, Jason Neely and Susan Fenton
Aloqador aktivlar
Eng oxirgi yangiliklar
Javobgarlikdan voz kechish: XM Group korxonalari har biri faqat ijro xizmatlarini koʻrsatadi va onlayn savdo platformamizdan foydalanish huquqini beradi, bu odamga veb-saytda yoki veb-sayt orqali mavjud boʻlgan kontentni koʻrish va/yoki undan foydalanishga ruxsat beradi hamda uni oʻzgartirishga moʻljallanmagan va uni oʻzgartirmaydi yoki kengaytirmaydi. Bunday kirish va foydalanish huquqi doimo quyidagilarga boʻysunadi: (i) Shartlar va qoidalar; (ii) Risklar haqida ogohlantirish; va (iii) Javobgarlikni toʻliq rad etish. Shuning uchun bunday kontent umumiy maʼlumot sifatida taqdim etiladi. Xususan, shuni esda tutingki, bizning onlayn savdo platformamiz mazmuni moliyaviy bozorlarda biror bitimni amalga oshirishga oid maslahat yoki taklif emas. Har qanday moliyaviy bozorda savdo qilish sizning kapitalingiz uchun jiddiy risk darajasini oʻz ichiga oladi.
Onlayn savdo platformamizda chop etilgan barcha materiallar faqat taʼlim/axborot maqsadlari uchun moʻljallangan va unda moliyaviy, investitsiya soligʻi yoki savdo maslahatlari va tavsiyalar; yoki bizning savdo narxlarimizning qaydlari; yoki har qanday moliyaviy vositalar bilan bitim tuzish maslahati yoki taklifi; yoki sizga kerak boʻlmagan moliyaviy reklama aksiyalari hisoblanmaydi
Har qanday uchinchi tomon kontenti, shuningdek XM tomonidan tayyorlangan kontent, masalan: fikrlar, yangiliklar, tadqiqotlar, tahlillar, narxlar va boshqa maʼlumotlar yoki bu veb-saytda joylashgan uchinchi tomon saytlariga havolalar umumiy bozor sharhi sifatida "boricha" taqdim etiladi va investitsiya maslahatini tashkil etmaydi. Har qanday kontent investitsiya tadqiqoti sifatida talqin qilinsa, siz bunday kontentni investitsiya tadqiqotlarining mustaqilligini ragʻbatlantirish uchun moʻljallangan qonun talablariga muvofiq moʻljallanmagan va tayyorlanmaganligini eʼtiborga olishingiz va qabul qilishingiz kerak, shuning uchun unga tegishli qonunlar va qoidalarga muvofiq marketing kommunikatsiyasi sifatida qaraladi. Mustaqil boʻlmagan investitsiya tadqiqoti va yuqoridagi maʼlumotlarga oid risk haqida ogohlantirishimizni oʻqib chiqqaningizga va tushunganingizga ishonch hosil qiling, unga bu yerdan kirish mumkin.
