Greggs joins list of high street stores to warn it will raise prices this year

Greggs has warned that the rising cost of employing people will result in price rises across its range as it said “lower consumer confidence” late last year had hit sales. Other high street retailers have issued the same guidance for 2025, with clothes shop Next suggesting prices will rise one per cent.

The bakery chain said “employment costs will result in further overall cost inflation, although wage increases should provide support to consumers”.

Greggs was one of more than 70 businesses that wrote to Chancellor Rachel Reeves last year to warn that changes announced in the October Budget meant price hikes were a “certainty”.

Despite posting record revenue last year, shares dropped up to nine per cent in morning trading after their announcement, wiping more than £200m off the market cap of the London Stock Exchange-listed company.

The FTSE 250 firm added on Thursday: “Greggs has demonstrated its ability to mitigate cost inflation in recent years whilst retaining its value leadership, and we are confident we can continue to do so.

It comes as Greggs’ fourth quarter sales grew 2.5% as it pointed to a “more challenging market backdrop” in the second half of the year.

The result for the quarter ending December means Greggs made £2 billion in annual revenue for the first time ever in 2024, an 11.3% rise compared to 2023.

But sales, including its famous sausage rolls and Festive Bakes over the Christmas period, came in behind growth of 5% in the previous quarter.

Chief executive Roisin Currie said that lower consumer confidence “continues to impact high-street footfall and expenditure”.

But she added: “Our value-for-money offer and the quality of our freshly prepared food and drink position us well to meet the headwinds we expect to see in the year ahead, and we remain confident in the significant long-term opportunity for growth.”