Greggs sales boosted by Easter

13th May 2009 07:07

Bumper sales of hot cross buns helped bakery chain Greggs put in a solid performance over Easter.The group, with over 1,400 retail outlets in the UK, increased total group sales in the 19 weeks to 9 May 2009 by 5.2%, including like-for-like sales growth of 2%. "Since our preliminary results announcement in March we have enjoyed a successful Easter. Our shops sold over 2.3m hot cross buns during 2009, an increase of ten per cent compared with the previous year. During recent weeks there have been some encouraging signs of greater stability in customer numbers," chairman Derek Netherton told shareholders ahead of its AGM."Performance in the year to date remains in line with our expectations. Margins are as we budgeted, with ingredient costs continuing to increase overall but offset by some improvement in energy costs which we expect to continue during the second half," he added.