Greggs records its first loss in 36 years as the Covid-19 pandemic impacts on sales

Bosses at the chain have announced a pre-tax loss of £13.7 million in 2020, compared to a £108.3 million profit from a year earlier.

Greggs saw sales drop from £1.17 billion to £811.3 million as the bakery chain closed their doors for vast amounts of last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The figures mean that it is the first time since Greggs was listed on the London Stock Exchange as a public company in 1984 that the chain has reported a loss.

However bosses are remaining positive for the future and the chain remains committed to opening 100 new stores across the country this year.

The company has also revealed that 9.6% of total sales in the first ten weeks of 2021 are now coming from delivery services such as Just Eat, however overall like-for-like sales are down 28.8% with the latest lockdown restrictions impacting on city centre locations and travel hub sites.

Earlier this year, bosses warned that the chain’s profits would not recover until at least 2022 as lockdown restrictions were once again tightened across the UK.

Speaking at the time, a spokesperson for Greggs said: “The significant uncertainty over the duration of social restrictions, along with the impact of higher unemployment levels, makes it difficult to predict performance.

“However, we do not expect that profits will return to pre-Covid levels until 2022 at the earliest.”

Last year, Greggs cut around 820 jobs as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold, forcing trade to decline.

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