The bakery and fast food chain Greggs returned to a first half year profit after a strong recovery in sales in the wake of the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, and said it expected annual profit to be slightly ahead of its previous expectations.
Greggs, best known for its sausage rolls, steak bakes, vegan snacks and sweet treats, said on Tuesday it made an underlying pretax profit of £55.5 millionin the six months to July 3 versus a pretax loss of £64.5 millionin the same period last year.
Total sales were £546.2 million, up from £300.6 million
While Greggs’ shops were allowed to stay open during COVID-19 lockdowns, the crisis disrupted its business model, which relies on a high volume of customer visits.
“Whilst there continue to be general uncertainties in the market, given our recent performance we now expect full-year profit to be slightly ahead of our previous expectation,” said Chief Executive Roger Whiteside.
