Greggs profits are rolling in after sales hot up

Bakery chain Greggs said today that its sales for the first half were up 14 per cent on the previous year.

Sales hit £546m in the six months to 29 June which Greggs said was helped by the popularity of its vegan sausage roll.

Underlying pre-tax profit margin rose to 7.5 per cent from 5.4 per cent the previous year.

Reported pre-tax profit grew to £36.7m, up from £24.1m in the same period last year.

The company boosted its interim dividend per share 11.2 per cent to 11.9p.

It also declared a special dividend of 35p per share.

The company said trading in the first half was “exceptionally strong,” building on “the successful end to 2018, and helped by the popularity of the new vegan-friendly sausage roll”.

It opened 54 new shops in the period and closed 23. It said it expects around 100 net new shops for the year as a whole.

Greggs had 1,984 shops trading as at 29 June 2019.

Chief executive Roger Whiteside said: “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. Our expectations for underlying profits for the year as a whole remain unchanged.”

Homebase dives into Bathstore saving 200 jobs

Homebase has acquired the collapsed retailer Bathstore, but at least 200 jobs at the bathroom specialist are still at risk.

The home and garden chain, which is controlled by the investment firm Hilco, said it had acquired Bathstore’s website and 44 stores, safeguarding about 150 jobs on the shopfloor and another 25 at head office.

However, the future of another 200 jobs at stores not included in the transaction are in doubt, with the remaining 91 shops set to close once display stock is sold off.

Bathstore employed 531 people and had 135 stores when it collapsed into administration last month. Its demise was blamed on several months of difficult trading as well as the failure to find a buyer. Some 159 redundancies have already been made at Bathstore since BDO was appointed as administrator.

Homebase has said it will roll out a number of Bathstore concessions into its stores over the coming 18 months.

Damian McGloughlin, chief executive, said that the acquisition “complements Homebase’s reinvigorated range”. He said it was on track to break even this year against a loss of over £100 million last year.