Greggs PLC (LSE:GRG) has upgraded full-year expectations after a strong sales performance in the summer.
However, it expects costs to increase towards the end of 2021 and the start of 2022 due to labour shortages and supply chain issues.
READ: Greggs says chicken bakes are still on the menu but supply issues hit other product lines
The firm is targeting to double revenue to circa £2.4bn by 2026 across an estate of 3,000 shops.
It will speed up the rate of yearly openings to 150, 50 of which will be established through franchisees.
It is also looking to keep 500 stores open until 8pm by the end of 2022 after recording positive performance in the evening sales, while it will keep rolling out delivery services across its estate.
Like-for-like sales still rose 3.5% in the third quarter compared to two years ago, with August performing particularly well thanks to the ‘staycation’ trend. Sales slowed down but were still 3% above 2019 levels in the four weeks to 2 October.
Delivery sales have continued developing and are now available in 943 shops.
The vegan range, which included the limited edition 'Vegan Sausage, Bean & Cheeze Melt', a 'Vegan Ham & Cheeze Baguette' and a vegan-friendly breakfast sausage, continued to be popular and the autumn menu has now been rolled out.
The FTSE 250 group had 2,146 shops trading at 2 October, having opened 84 new sites and closed 16 stores in the year to date. The plan is to have 100 net openings in the financial year.
The baker’s new automated cold storage facility in Newcastle upon Tyne, designed to support growth and cut logistics costs and emissions, has started operations.