LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Bakery chain Greggs said on Thursday that it jumped past the £2bn sales mark in 2024, but reported a slowdown in like-for-like sales growth for the fourth quarter as weaker consumer confidence dented footfall on the high street.
For the year, total sales rose 11.3% to £2.01bn, with company managed shop LFL sales up 5.5%.

In the fourth quarter, total sales were up 7.7% while company managed shop LFL sales growth slowed to 2.5%. Greggs said this reflected "the more subdued high street footfall".

"Trading performance reflected a well-publicised more challenging market backdrop in the second half of 2024," it said.

The chain opened a record 226 new shops in the year, with 28 closures and 53 relocations resulting in 145 net new shop openings, in line with its target.

Greggs said the full-year outcome was set to be in line with the board's previous expectations.

Chief executive Roisin Currie said 2024 was "another year of good progress".

"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," she said.

"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."

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