London — British baker and takeaway food group Greggs said on Thursday it expected to pay a special dividend in July after a “very strong” start to 2019 as it reported a 10% rise in 2018 profit. Greggs, which has 1,950 outlets in shopping streets, railway stations and motorway services, raised its profit outlook for 2019 last month thanks to interest in the launch of a vegan sausage roll, lifting its shares to a record high. “We don’t know how many of the vegan rolls the baker is actually selling, but the publicity is getting customers through the door one way or the other,” Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Laith Khalaf said following the results. Greggs's share price has risen 41% so far this year but was down 0.9% at 1,783.5p at 8.35am GMT, valuing the business at £1.65bn ($2.17bn). Greggs said like-for-like sales at company-managed shops rose 9.6% in the seven weeks to February 16, bucking the trend of a subdued British retail sector. CEO Roger Whiteside noted “significant uncertainti...
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