Greggs sales top £1bn as it celebrates success of vegan sausage roll

Greggs has reported annual sales of more than £1bn for the first time as it shrugged off the gloom surrounding the high street and celebrated the success of its vegan sausage roll.

The bakery chain, which has also been boosted by the growth of its breakfast offering, is now taking on the market for hot food later in the day with potato wedges and goujons.

It reported a 15% rise in pre-tax profits to £82.6m for 2018 while total sales climbed to £1.03bn.

The results come after Greggs revealed last month that it had seen a strong start to 2019, with like-for-like sales up 9.6% in the first seven weeks of the year.

That compares to 2.9% sales growth in 2018 during a period when trading was hit by extreme weather.

Chief executive Roger Whiteside said there were "significant uncertainties" ahead as the UK negotiates Brexit and the potential impact that a "disorderly" departure from the EU could have - affecting supply chains, tariffs, exchange rates and consumer demand.

But he added: "Greggs has started 2019 in great form, helped in part by the publicity surrounding the launch of our vegan-friendly sausage roll.

"We hope to continue benefiting from this strong momentum during the first half of 2019."

Greggs said the "extraordinary level of social and general media coverage" that followed the vegan sausage roll launch had resulted in additional visits to stores.

The chain sells 1.5 million sausage rolls a week but created the new option due to public demand after an online petition by campaigners PETA, calling for a vegan version, was signed by more than 20,000 people last year.

The launch created a flurry of attention - and anger - drawing comments from the likes of Piers Morgan and comedian Ricky Gervais.

Greggs is now also developing its offer of "quick meal solutions later in the day when demand for sweet bakery items and cold sandwiches has passed its peak".

It said hot sandwiches were now available in all shops and it was rolling out the hot self-serve cabinets serving products such as soup, potato wedges and chicken goujons.