High street bakery Greggs has reported a double-digit increases in sales for 2024, taking it past the £2bn sales milestone for the first time.
Total sales rose by 11.3 per cent in the 52 weeks ended December 28, 2024, to £2bn.
Pre-tax profit rose 8.3 per cent to £203.9m, while earnings per share rose 11.1 per cent to 137.5p.
The Newcastle-headquartered bakery said it had recommended a final dividend of 50p per share, with a total ordinary dividend per share of 69p.
“In 2021, we set our sights on doubling sales by 2026 and having a significantly bigger business over the longer term,” CEO Roisin Currie said.
“Three years into this five-year plan, sales are on track and we continue to be confident in the growth opportunity in front of us.
“The brand is in better shape than ever, with a material opportunity to continue growing and developing the Greggs estate and plenty of scope to continue to grow in newer dayparts and channels,” she added.
Greggs’ share price has fallen by a third in the past six months, mainly due to a sell-off in early January after weaker-than-expected sales caused analysts to predict that its time of ‘supernormal’ growth was over.
Life-for-like sales in company-managed shops only increased by 1.7 per cent year-on-year in the first nine weeks of 2025, with “challenging weather conditions in January followed by improved trading in February”, the company said.
The chain expects cost inflation of six per cent in 2025, with employment cost inflation the “biggest driver of costs”.
It said that cost inflation unable to be mitigated by savings will be recovered through “careful pricing activity”.