About 25,000 Greggs employees will get a slice of a £17.6m bonus pie after the excessive avenue bakery chain made document annual earnings.
The employees will obtain a bonus of their wages on the finish of March to recognise their “hard work and effort” throughout 2023, CEO Roisin Currie introduced.
The windfall follows Greggs making a 27% improve in annual earnings.
The firm, famed for its sausage rolls and steak bakes, delivered a bumper pre-tax revenue of £188.3m for 2023 – up from £148.3m the earlier 12 months, after like-for-like gross sales in company-managed retailers rose by 13.7%.
On an underlying foundation, pre-tax earnings lifted 13% to £167.7m.
But Ms Currie insisted the bakery large was “not complacent” about powerful excessive avenue buying and selling situations, as she reiterated Greggs wouldn’t improve its costs this 12 months.
And she urged Chancellor Jeremy Hunt – who at this time unveiled his spring price range – to “put money in consumers’ pockets”.
Ms Currie advised the PA information company: “The consumer is still under pressure in terms of their disposable income.
“We are definitely not complacent.
“Retaining that number one for value is very important to us.”
Greggs, which employs a complete of 32,000 individuals, shares 10% of earnings every year with employees who’ve labored on the firm for at the very least six months.
Shareholders additionally benefited from a particular dividend pay-out of 40p a share, on prime of a 46p a share ultimate dividend.
‘Another good 12 months of progress forward’
The firm stated it was assured it could possibly ship “another good year of progress” and stays on monitor to confide in 160 retailers this 12 months, after opening a document 220 websites in 2023.
However, the agency’s annual outcomes confirmed sluggish gross sales progress as there was much less contribution from worth inflation, paring again to 9.4% within the final quarter of the 12 months.
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Comparable retailer gross sales growths have slowed to eight.2% within the first 9 weeks of 2024 – though Greggs stated this mirrored good progress by quantity.
The bakery large stated in an announcement: “Inflationary pressures are reducing and we have improved visibility costs in the coming year.
“There isn’t any change to administration’s expectations for 2024.”
‘Success most firms can solely dream of’
Greggs stated it expects its personal value inflation to be between 4% – 5% however warned this was “subject to geo-political risks”.
Shares within the agency rose by 4% on Tuesday morning – as the corporate insisted it was on monitor with plans made in 2021 to double gross sales by 2026.
“What started as a plan is now a solid reality”, the corporate stated.
Investment director at AJ Bell, Russ Mould, stated Greggs’ drive to be “food-on-the-go king” is paying off, including that the corporate’s market share is at an “all-time high”.
“The pace of growth actually slowed each quarter during the past year, albeit still delivering the kind of success most companies can only dream of.
“February was a washout month for all retailers as a result of unhealthy climate and which may clarify the lowered progress reported by Greggs.”
Source: information.sky.com”