Greggs, Elegant Hotels and Hotel Chocolat

“Blue-chips opened on the back foot ahead of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit speech later today with market anticipating that this will flag a so-called 'hard' Brexit,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“Bakery giant Greggs was one of the FTSE250’s top performers in early trading following a bullish year-end trading update. Greggs had a particularly strong Christmas and has now seen like-for-like sales increase for 13 consecutive quarters with food-on-the-go continuing to be the main driver. Industry-wide cost pressures are likely to have a modest impact on margins in the short term but Greggs remains confident of further progress this year. Greggs was up by more than 3.2% in early trading.

“Elegant Hotels’ shares edged up despite a 5.2% drop in revenues and an 11.6% fall in adjusted earnings in the year to the end of September. These results were against a backdrop of challenging market conditions and the group has expanded its business significantly through the acquisition of Waves Hotel & Spa in Barbados and the management contract that it recently signed on a property in Antigua. Elegant Hotels remains committed to its expansion strategy in both Barbados and across other parts of the Caribbean.

“Premium chocolatier Hotel Chocolat’s has reported strong Christmas trading with total revenues up by 16.2%. Retail growth was driven by increases in footfall and items per basket, with customers also choosing to buy more higher-priced gift items while the digital business showed similar momentum.”

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