Greggs' vegan sausage rolls drives 58% rise in profit

Greggs, the British baker and food-on-the-go retailer, posted a 58% rise in first-half profit on Tuesday, driven by a boost to sales from the popularity of its vegan sausage rolls.

The firm, which trades from around 2,000 outlets in the UK, reported underlying pretax profit of 40.6 million pounds ($49 million) in the six months to 29 June, up from 25.7 million pounds in the same period last year. Total sales rose 14.7% to 546 million pounds, while like-for-like sales at company-managed shops were up 10.5%. ($1 = 0.8228 pounds)