Recasts, adds CEO comments in paragraphs 3 to 5
2025 underlying pretax profit down 9.4%
First nine weeks of 2026 underlying sales up 1.6%
Forecasts flat profit in 2026
Shares down 25% year-on-year
By James Davey
LONDON, March 3 (Reuters) - A slowdown in sales growth at Greggs GRG.L, Britain’s biggest fast‑food chain, is being driven more by subdued consumer confidence than by the rapid uptake of appetite-suppressing drugs, its boss said on Tuesday.
Shares in Greggs have plunged 25% over the last year, most recently being hit by analyst concerns that the growing popularity of glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) drugs, such as Mounjaro and Wegovy, is reducing demand from the chain's most frequent customers for its high-calorie sausage rolls, steak bakes and sweet treats.
"For us we believe it's small, the macroeconomic factors are definitely the much bigger factor," Greggs CEO Roisin Currie told Reuters in an interview.
She said growing demand for weight loss medication is a very small part of dietary trends.
"There's bigger trends out there which are the moves to higher protein, higher fibre and healthy options which we have been leaning into for a number of years," said Currie, highlighting products such as egg pots and overnight oats.
Greggs said like-for-like sales in shops managed by the company rose 1.6% in the first nine weeks of the year, having risen by 2.9% in the Christmas quarter.
Industry data published last week showed overall British retail sales fell sharply in February, which retailers partly blamed on unusually persistent wet weather that encouraged shoppers to spend online instead.
Greggs, which has more outlets than McDonald's MCD.N in Britain, opened a net 121 new stores in 2025, taking the total to 2,739.
Some analysts have suggested Britain may have hit "peak Greggs" after rapid expansion in recent years. However, the group is still targeting a further 120 net new shops in 2026 and is also trialling a new "bitesize Greggs" format. It sees scope for over 3,000 stores.
For 2025, Greggs reported a 9.4% decline in underlying pretax profit to 171.9 million pounds, on total sales up 6.8% to 2.15 billion pounds.
It reaffirmed a forecast for 2026 profit at a similar underlying level to 2025, with any increase contingent on a recovery in the consumer backdrop.
(Reporting by James DaveyEditing by David Goodman, Kirsten Donovan)
((james.davey@thomsonreuters.com))
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