Greggs sales top £2bn in year of record new shop openings

Bakery chain Greggs says total 2024 sales surpassed £2bn despite subdued consumer confidence, particularly in the second half of the year.

The high street seller said that footfall and spending across the industry created headwinds but that it was confident of further growth this year. Sales of its food-on-the-go items jumped 11.3% in 2024 to £2.01bn and there was a record 226 new shops opened and a net 145 new shops given relocations and closures.

Greggs had 2,618 shops trading at the end of the year. It has previously talked of ambitions to run a network of more than 3,000 sites in the UK.

In a trading update to investors on the London Stock Exchange, Greggs warned there would be further cost inflation from wage increases, but that the trend should benefit customers' pockets. And despite the headwinds it had retained its lead position in the UK breakfast market, a title it took from McDonald's last year.

The FTSE 250 retailer said it had a year end net cash of £125m, down from £195m in 2023 - reflecting substantial investment in its supply chain capacity to support its growing number of shops. That activity includes the building a new frozen product manufacturing and logistics facility in Derby, which is expected to open in 2026. And in Northamptonshire, the firm is about to begin work on a chilled and ambient Nation Distribution Centre which it hopes to have operational by mid-2027.

Roisin Currie, chief executive, said: "2024 was another year of good progress by Greggs, with a record number of new shops opened and the £2bn sales milestone surpassed. I'm proud of our teams who, day in and day out, do such a fantastic job for our customers.

"We enter 2025 with a strong pipeline of new shop opportunities, and we continue to broaden our menu and enhance our digital capabilities, whilst also developing our supply chain capacity to deliver our growth strategy. Whilst lower consumer confidence continues to impact high street footfall and expenditure, our value-for-money offer and the quality of our freshly-prepared food and drink position us well to meet the headwinds we expect to see in the year ahead, and we remain confident in the significant long-term opportunity for growth."