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11 Nov 2019
Greggs : More upgrades! - Buy

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Greggs : More upgrades! - Buy
Greggs plc (GRG:LON) | 1,576 -220.6 (-0.9%) | Mkt Cap: 1,612m
- Published:
11 Nov 2019 -
Author:
Ben Hunt, CFA | Kate Calvert -
Pages:
7 -
Trading accelerates in Q4: Trading has accelerated across October and November, achieving company-managed LfLs of +8.3% (6 weeks to 9th Nov) versus +7.4% at Q3 (13 weeks to 29th Sept). Total sales were +12.4%, over the period, in line with Q3. This implies that Greggs has been able to accelerate 2-year LfLs ahead of its initial expectation for +10% in Q4, to c. +12%, despite tougher two-year comparatives over the period.
Growth continues to be broadly consistent across categories and throughout the trading period with increased customer visits driving growth. We understand that the savoury category outperformed. Pleasingly, we believe strategic initiatives implemented over H2 are progressing well (with better availability of hot food options and “post-4pm” deals aiding stores to extend opening hours) and we expect delivery service trials to show encouraging results, adding incremental demand.
Operating costs remain well controlled and despite comparatives getting harder for the remainder of the quarter (LfLs accelerated to c. +6.5% in December last year, having been up +4.5%, 8 weeks to 24th November), management expects profits to be “higher” than expectations this year.
We now forecast PBT this year rising +4.6% to £110.9m which is a function of our H2 managed LfL assumption increasing to c. +8%. Whilst most input costs are well covered across H1 next year, management continues to anticipate some input cost pressures from higher pork prices (c. 4% of sales) when contracts roll over in January.
Valuation: Following this morning’s upgrade, the shares now trade on 19.6x FY20e PE and an undemanding 7.2x FY20E EV/EBITDA despite offering double-digit earnings growth (CAGR: FY19-21E) as well as a 2.5% dividend yield and further potential yield enhancement from shareholder returns.