Preliminary Results
A YEAR OF EXCEPTIONAL PROGRESS
Financial highlights
· Total sales up 5.5% to £804.0m (2013: £762.4m)
· Own shop like-for-like sales* up 4.5% (2013: 0.8% decline)
· Property gains on disposal of £1.5m (2013: £1.3m)
· Pre-tax profit excluding exceptional items** up 41.1% to £58.3m (2013: £41.3m)
· Excellent returns on capital invested
· Continued strong cash generation, resuming buyback programme
· Dividend per share up 12.8% to 22.0p (2013: 19.5p)
* like-for-like sales in own shops (excluding franchises) with a full year's trading history
** before exceptional pre-tax charge of £8.5m (2013: exceptional pre-tax charge of £8.1m)
Operational highlights
· Food-on-the-go focus delivering growth
· Upgraded coffee sales now c.£1 million per week
· Strong growth from 'Balanced Choice' range
· Growing customer participation in value deals
· Much improved market conditions
· 213 shop refits completed in the year
· 50 new shops opened, 71 closures
· 1,650 shops trading at 3 January
· Initial benefits of change programme delivered ahead of schedule
"2014 was a year of significant change and an exceptional step up in performance for Greggs as we began to implement our new strategic plan centred on the growing food-on-the-go market. We have improved both our food offer and the shop experience for customers. Market conditions have been more favourable and like-for-like sales have grown throughout the year. This has resulted in record underlying profits for the financial year. Overall we are confident of delivering a further year of good growth and progress against our strategic plan in 2015."
- Roger Whiteside, Chief Executive