LONDON, Apr 29: Greggs, Britain’s biggest seller of food-on-the-go, warned on year profit on Monday, partly blaming adverse weather in January and March that kept shoppers out of its stores.
‘Although we are only four months into the year, based on current own shop like-for-like performance we believe that profits for the year are likely to be slightly below the lower end of the range of market expectations,’ the firm said.
It said the range for the year to Dec. 28 was 47.5-55.2 million pounds ($73.6-85.5 million).
Greggs said sales at stores open over a year were down 4.4 percent in the 17 weeks to April 27.
‘We are continuing to experience lower footfall across much of the estate although average transaction values have increased marginally,’ it said.
Greggs said a higher proportion of promotional deals meant a slight impact on margin, a trend it expected to continue.
The firm said total sales in the period rose 3.0 percent, helped by a net 10 new shop openings and a 2.9 percent increase in wholesale and franchise sales.
Shares in Greggs closed Friday at 462.5 pence, valuing the business at 467.9 million pounds. AGENCIES)
Follow our WhatsApp channel