Greggs Shares Drop Despite Passing £2bn Sales Milestone

Greggs (LON: GRG) shares fell more than 9% in the early part of Tuesday’s session, trading at 1,883p at the time of writing, despite the bakery chain reporting record sales and profits for 2024.

The company posted total sales of £2.01 billion for the year ending 28 December 2024, an 11.3% increase from £1.81 billion in 2023. 

Underlying pre-tax profit rose 13.2% to £189.8 million, excluding exceptional items, while reported pre-tax profit climbed 8.3% to £203.9 million. Like-for-like sales in company-managed shops increased by 5.5%.

Greggs CEO Roisin Currie described 2024 as a “record-breaking year” and reiterated the company’s long-term goal of doubling sales by 2026. 

“The brand is in better shape than ever,” Currie said, adding that Greggs sees “plenty of scope to continue to grow in newer dayparts and channels.”

The company opened a net 145 new shops during the year, taking its total estate to 2,618 locations. Greggs also continued to expand its evening trade, with the segment now accounting for 9% of company-managed shop sales.

Despite the strong financial performance, investors appeared to focus on more muted recent trading. 

Like-for-like sales growth slowed to 1.7% in the first nine weeks of 2025, reflecting challenging weather conditions in January.

However, Greggs remains confident in managing inflationary headwinds and delivering further progress in 2025.