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Baker rides out recession

Bakery chain Greggs has delivered some tasty Christmas trading figures as its low-cost products remained popular with price-conscious customers. The Newcastle-based group, which has more than 1,400 stores in the UK, saw like-for-like sales rise 5.3% in the four weeks to the start of January.

The average Greggs customer spends around £2 a visit and chief executive Ken McMeikan said the chain’s quality and low prices gave it a head start on rivals. He said: “The underlying factor out there is that people are looking at the amount of money in their pocket and looking for the best value.”

Greggs’ Christmas sales boost came on top of strong festive trading a year earlier and helped push like-for-like sales for the 28 weeks to December 27 up 3.9%.

But Mr McMeikan warned that pressure on trading would remain throughout a difficult 2009 as the UK struggles with recession - with no immediate relief in sight from lower prices for input costs such as fuel and wheat.

“The trading outlook for 2009 is demanding and customers will continue to feel the impact of the economic downturn. Costs will remain high into the first half despite the recent easing of prices for fuel and a number of key commodities,” Mr McMeikan said.

The company is also looking to open new outlets in locations away from its traditional high street bases to areas like industrial estates, housing estates and bus stations.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .