Business
Update on trading and impact of coronavirus
Update on trading and impact of coronavirus.
About this update from Greggs Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n \n RNS Number : 2634H\n Greggs PLC\n 23 March 2020\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 23 March 2020\n \n \n \n \n \n GREGGS plc\n \n \n UPDATE ON TRADING AND IMPACT OF CORONAVIRUS\n \n \n \n \n \n Greggs is the leading bakery food-on-the-go retailer in the UK, \n \n \n with more than 2,050 retail outlets throughout the country\n \n \n \n \n \n PROTECTING OUR PEOPLE, CUSTOMERS AND BUSINESS\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Greggs is a great business that employs over 25,000 people, and prides itself on the way that it deals with the many stakeholders we rely on in order to make good freshly prepared food available across the UK. However, given the current and likely impacts of coronavirus we are now planning for the closure of our shop estate by close of business on Tuesday 24 March in order to protect our people and customers. Whilst it is impossible to provide clarity on the outlook for the weeks and months ahead, we have set out the information that we are able to in this update.\n \n \n \n \n \n Protecting our people and customers\n \n \n \n \n \n Greggs has acted quickly to follow Government guidelines, helping to prevent the spread of the virus in our shops and supply chain. In addition to increased hygiene and separation measures we converted all of our shops to provide a solely take-away service accepting card payments only and have been advising all customers to follow social distancing guidelines while waiting to be served. It is now clear that to protect our people and customers we need to go further and temporarily close our shops completely. During this period, with support from the Government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, we intend to maintain employment of colleagues at full contract hours for as long as is practicable.\n \n \n \n \n \n Whilst our shops will be closed for a period Greggs will continue to provide support to our local communities by distributing any remaining unsold food, and offering support for those in hardship through the Greggs Foundation. \n \n \n \n \n \n Impact on sales \n \n \n \n \n \n We, like other consumer-facing businesses, have seen a sharp reduction in footfall in many of the areas where we trade over the last week. Initially the impact was seen in transpor...