Greggs share price surges ten per cent as revenues near £1.2bn
Greggs has announced ambitious plans to double annual intake to £2.4bn over the next five years after the company lifted full year revenue expectations on the back of strong Q3 results.
The bakery chain today revealed that like for like sales were up 3.5 per cent in Q3 compared to pre-pandemic levels with rebounding interest allowing Greggs to open 84 new stores this year to date, start delivering from 943 UK sites and open three new drive-thru locations.
Strong growth underpinned the company’s target of opening 150 new stores per year from 2022 with the aim of growing the Greggs estate from 2,150 to 3,000 shops.
In a statement the company said, “despite widely reported disruption to staffing and supply chains, it is a credit to our teams that Greggs has continued to trade well over the third quarter.”
The bakery institution experienced particularly strong growth in August due to staycations boosting sales and remained in positive territory in September, with two-year like-for-like growth of three per cent in the four weeks to 2 October.
Greggs confirmed that the company “has not been immune to the well-publicised pressures on staffing and supply chains, which has caused “some disruption to the availability of labour and supply of ingredients and products in recent months,” with the return to higher business rates risking the viability of some existing stores.
Nonetheless, the sausage-roll makers assured investors that full year outcomes will be “ahead of our previous expectations,” with revenue likely to reach £1.2bn by the year’s end.
Share price has surged by 10.42 per cent in the wake of the news, with stocks trading at 3,172.50 GBX as of 3pm UK time.