The new chief executive of Greggs set out plans to pause its aggressive store-opening and switch bakery branches to takeaways plying pizza, steak pies and sausage rolls after another profits warning today sent shares plunging.
Roger Whiteside, who took over as chief executive in March, wants Greggs to grab a larger slice of the £6 billion “food to go” market. So the baker launched a new pizza range, which Whiteside claimed had quickly become a bestseller, and staff shifts are starting earlier to prepare sandwiches “for the growing number of customers coming to us for breakfast who want to save time by buying lunch as well.”
Snacking in the afternoon “is also a growing trend,” Whiteside added, so Greggs stores are to open later, and all ‘local bakery’ branches will be revamped to ‘food on the go’ shops. The ‘Moment’ coffee shop chain is disappearing.
The changes were announced as Greggs revealed a 29% fall in pre-tax profit to £11.3 million for the six months to July, sending shares slumping 31.6p to 410p, down 7%. It said slipping sales were down to the hot weather, claiming the heatwave dampened demand, and warned annual profits will be £3 million lower as a result. That follows an April profit warning, for which Greggs blamed the cold weather.
Now Whiteside is battening down the hatches, saying Greggs will grow its estate by only 20 stores in the year, down from 100 last year, and has decided not to go-ahead with plans to build a second savoury factory in the East Midlands.
