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Greggs reported its first loss as public company as the lockdown weighed on sales, but the bakery chain touted optimism ahead, saying it had made a better-than-expected start to 2021.
In the first ten weeks of 2021, company-managed shop like-for-like sales down 28.8% year-on-year and delivery sales were 9.6% of total company-managed shop sales. The better-than-expected start comes as the hit to sales in 2020, from the lockdown was captured in the company's annual results.
For the year ended 31 December, the pre-tax loss was £13.7 million compared with a profit of £108.3 million last year, as sales fell to £811.3 million from £1,167.9 million.
Like-for-like sales in company-managed shops were down 36.2% on 2019 level.
The company continued to keep the dividend suspended and said it would need to return to a level of profitability and cash generation sufficient to resume payouts.
In 2020 the company opened 84 new shops (including 35 franchised units) and closed 56, growing the estate to 2,078 shops as at 2 January 2021.