Greggs profit warning sends shares diving

The boss of Greggs on Wednesday put on a brave face despite a plunge in shares after it warned on profits.

Chief executive Roger Whiteside said: “When times are tough, food-on-the-go is still a resilient market.”

The purveyor of sausage rolls and meat pies — and, more recently, salads and soups — revealed a slowdown in same-store sales growth to 1.3% for the first 18 weeks of this year, compared with a solid 3.2% rise in January and February. Shares fell 217p, or 17.1%, to 1050p.

The Beast from the East meant there were fewer people out buying its pastries. “For 10 days we were severely disrupted,” added Whiteside, warning that profits will be flat this year.

But “weak footfall” was a problem, too. Greggs is trying to rely less on its High Street shops and open more stores at Tube and railway stations.

In a note called Overcooked, Peel Hunt analysts downgraded Greggs from Hold to Reduce.

To add further to the woes enveloping the High Street, the British Retail Consortium today revealed that sales deteriorated at their worst rate since 1995. Same-store sales fell by 4.2% compared with April last year.