Sales at Britain's Greggs recover to 72% of 2019 level after stores reopen

Greggs, the British food-to-go retailer known for its sausage rolls, bakes and sandwiches, said sales at it company-managed stores stood at 72% of the 2019 level in the most recent week as trading recovers from the COVID-19 lockdown. Chief Executive Roger Whiteside said Greggs had made a great start to 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, causing it to close its more than 2,000 stores for most of the second quarter.

Greggs, the British food-to-go retailer known for its sausage rolls, bakes and sandwiches, said sales at it company-managed stores stood at 72% of the 2019 level in the most recent week as trading recovers from the COVID-19 lockdown.

Chief Executive Roger Whiteside said Greggs had made a great start to 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, causing it to close its more than 2,000 stores for most of the second quarter. The company said all of its stores had re-opened by July, offering a limited range of its best-sellers to takeaway customers.

"Greggs is now well prepared to deal with the challenges of social distancing and operate through the conditions we are faced with," Whiteside said on Tuesday. The health crisis resulted in Greggs reporting a pretax loss of 65.2 million pounds ($83.9 million), against a profit of 36.7 million pounds a year earlier, for the six months to June 27.

Sales fell to 300.6 million pounds from 546.3 million pounds a year earlier.