The City will be looking for pre-tax profit of roughly £40.2m when national bakery chain Greggs (GRG) reports its full-year results next week. That's likely to be achieved: a fourth-quarter trading update in January already revealed that full-year results would be "in line with previous expectations", following a significant improvement in sales in the final quarter and over Christmas.
IC TIP:
Sell
at
509p
But it's worth remembering that this profit guidance was revised down twice in the year. Falling sales and lower footfall prompted a profit warning in April and weakness in the August half-year results. The cost of reshaping the business is also likely to constrain earnings growth over the next two years.
