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Loyal sausage roll Greggs has announced it will open 100 new stores by the end of 2021, which will create 500 new jobs after the bakery chain announced a pre-tax profit of £ 55.5 million for that year.
The Newcastle-based High Street Bakery, which has 2,115 stores, said the store had swung from a loss to a profit after the Covid lockdown was eased and they were given the green light to trade properly.
In the interim results released today, the bosses announced that 48 new branches were opened in the first half of this year, but 11 of them were permanently closed. Greggs expects 100 net store openings in 2021.
The numbers were for that 26 weeks to July 3, compared to a loss of £ 65.2 million for the same period last year while Greggs was hampered by trade restrictions and government contracts at home.
The bosses now expect full-year earnings to be “slightly above” previous forecasts after rising from pre-Covid levels.
Loyal sausage roll Greggs has announced it will open 100 new stores by the end of 2021, which will create 500 new jobs after the bakery chain announced a pre-tax profit of £ 55.5 million for that year
An employee wearing PPE with a mask and visor serves at the counter of a Greggs bakery in London on June 18, 2020
MailOnline believes the majority of new stores are likely to open in car access locations such as retail parks and drive-throughs as the Covid crisis accelerates the demise of the UK’s main street.
The group saw a 9.2 percent like-for-like sales decline after the effects of the third national lockdown, but was lifted with the opening of 48 new locations.
CEO Roger Whiteside said: “Greggs has once again demonstrated resilience in a challenging first half, emerging in a strong position from the lockdown months and rebuilding sales as social restrictions have gradually been relaxed.
‘We continue to make good progress on our strategic priorities as we increase store inventory and invest in our digital capabilities to be competitive across all channels and daily parts of our market.
‘Although there are still general uncertainties in the market, given our recent development we now expect a profit for the full year that is slightly above our previous expectations.’
Greggs said it repaid the money it received from the government under the vacation program and reintroduced its dividend to shareholders.
In March, Greggs bosses reported a pre-tax loss of £ 13.7 million for 2020, compared to a profit of £ 108.3 million the previous year. Sales fell by £ 300 million during the pandemic, from £ 1.17 billion to £ 811.3 million.
Greggs stores across England remained open for takeout during the lockdown as they are classified as major retailers. However, due to stay-at-home orders, there have been significant declines in downtown locations and travel centers.
The Newcastle-based High Street Bakery, which has 2,115 stores, said the store had swung from a loss to a profit after the Covid lockdown was eased and they were given the green light to trade properly
Delivery services and a partnership with Just Eat helped offset some of the declines, the company said, with 9.6 percent of total sales in the first ten weeks of 2021 now coming from deliveries.
However, recent year-to-date lockdowns and restrictions have hurt overall sales, the company said, with like-for-like sales falling 28.8 percent in the 10 weeks to March 13.
The company said 2020 results were slightly better than expected given the lockdowns, adding that it had benefited from the vacation program and business rates.
The bosses added that they have access to a new £ 100 million revolving credit facility to fund further expansion beyond the 2,078 operational stores.
Greggs was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1984 and had never reported a loss since it became a public company.
The hospitality industry was one of the hardest hit industries by the pandemic, with thousands of pubs and restaurants permanently closed and hundreds of thousands of jobs lost.
Chris Daly, CEO of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, said, “During the pandemic, we have seen Greggs work hard to adapt its services and operations to keep pace with changing consumer habits, and these interim results show that his hard work is paying off now. ” the end.
“Innovations like offering a click-and-collect service and a partnership with Just Eat have made it easier for consumers to keep buying Greggs products even during the lockdown.
“The announcement of the new vegan sausage, bean and cheese melt last week caused a stir that will undoubtedly entice customers to come back into stores when they hit the shelves.
‘Greggs’ dual focus on digital innovation coupled with releasing in-demand products has enabled him to keep high street and online shoppers within reach and recover from a difficult year.’
Company leaders and staff say changes to the NHS app are “too little, too late” after changes to the “Pingdemic” covid alert system will only save tens of thousands from self-isolation, quarantining up to a MILLION at a time
Business leaders warned today that optimizations to the NHS Covid-19 app to alleviate crippling pingemia are “too little too late” for companies that have seen their sales slump – and are “not a silver bullet.”
The changes to the app announced yesterday evening mean that people will now only be forced into isolation if they have had “close contact” with an asymptomatic Covid case in the two days prior to the positive test.
Previously, it had gone through a five-day window of an infected person’s contacts to send “ping” alerts. The great decline of the government means tens of thousands of Britons are now spared self-isolation.
However, Kate Nicholls, UKHospitality General Manager, said more needs to be done as fully vaccinated employees still have to self-isolate, which is a “significant barrier to the viable operation and recovery of venues”.
And the Adam Smith Institute think tank said the government should now consider giving affected businesses a discount for “the lost business the NHS app has taken from our productive and otherwise healthy economy.”
About 689,313 alerts were sent to users by the app for the week ending July 21, while NHS Test and Trace also identified 600,000 people, meaning more than a million people may have been asked to self-isolate in a week .
Tens of thousands of Britons are spared self-isolation after ministers tweak the NHS app to alleviate debilitating pingdemia
This graph shows the number of people told by the NHS Covid app (blue) to isolate, the contacts of people who tested positive, reached by test and trace call processors (orange), and the People who isolate every month because they tested positive (green).
Ms. Nicholls said, “This government intervention is absolutely necessary to prevent a complete loss of summer trade for the hospitality industry after prolonged periods of serious trade disruption.
‘This will help ease some of the pressures currently facing hard-hit businesses, but it is not a panacea.
