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Greggs Share Price Slips 4% on Cancelled Dividends

Nigel Firth
Nigel Frith trader
Updated 28 Jul 2020

OPEN DEMO TRADING ACCOUNT YOUR CAPITAL IS AT RISK. 76% OF RETAIL CFD ACCOUNTS LOSE MONEY
Greggs

Shares of Greggs PLC (LON: GRG) fell 4% after the bakery chain slashed its interim dividend amid tumbling sales. Sales tumbled as much as 45% to £300.6 million for six months ending June 27.

As a result, the bakery chain reported a pre-tax loss of £65.2 million. Last year, Greggs recorded a profit of £36.7 million. 

Consequently, the high-end bakery decided to preserve £33 million in cash amid the pandemic. Therefore, it won’t pay a 2019 dividend, neither it plans to pay this year’s dividend. Net debt at the end of the period was £26.2mln.

“The strength of our balance sheet coming into this period meant that we had sufficient time to arrange additional liquidity, and the Bank of England's Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF) proved to be the quickest method of arranging temporary financing,” the company said in a statement. 

The bakery chain said it still doesn’t rule out a possibility of further lockdowns that would close its shops again. It burned through £4.4 million per week during closures.

“It remains very difficult to predict the outlook and likely performance of our business, and we recognise the possibility of further lockdowns either nationally or regionally.”

 Greggs share price drops 4% as both 2019 and 2020 are cancelled July 2020

Greggs said it has brought back 75% of its staff from furlough. 

Nigel Firth
Nigel has been in the regulated financial services industry for nearly a decade, has previously owned a financial brokerage and has written many times for sites relating to personal finance and trading.