Greggs bakes in special divi amid 'exceptionally strong' half-yearly performance

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Greggs declared a special dividend after reporting 'exceptionally strong' half-yearly performance as its new vegan-friendly sausage roll continued to rake in sales.

Reported pre-tax profit including property gains and exceptional charge rose to £36.7m from £24.1m a year earlier and total sales were up 14.7% to £546m.

Company-managed shop like-for-like sales were up 10.5%.

Breakfast-on-the-go remained the fastest-growing element of the company's trading day, with sales of its freshly-ground Fairtrade coffee now placing it third in the UK out-of-home coffee market.

The company declared an ordinary interim dividend per share of 11.9p in line, up 11.2% on last year and a special dividend of 35.0p per share.

The company opened 54 new shops, closed 23; and maintained expectations to open around 100 net new shops for the year.

"Given the strength of our year to date and the outlook, we have decided to increase investment in strategic initiatives in the second half of the year to help to deliver an even stronger customer proposition and further growth in the years ahead,' said Roger Whiteside, Chief Executive.

'Our expectations for underlying profits for the year as a whole remain unchanged."