Directorate Change

Greggs PLC
18 December 2006


                                                                18 December 2006

                                   GREGGS plc
                      BOARD APPOINTMENT AND TRADING UPDATE

Greggs is the UK's leading retailer specialising in sandwiches, savouries and
other bakery products, with a particular focus on takeaway food and catering. It
has over 1,300 retail outlets throughout the UK, trading under the Greggs and
Bakers Oven brands.


Over the last five years, we have been putting increasing emphasis on developing
Greggs as a national brand. Following a strategic review of the business, the
Board of Greggs has decided to speed up this development by changing its
devolved divisional management structure. As a consequence, the Board is
creating the new position of Retail Director to drive the development of a
stronger, more unified and customer-focused Greggs brand throughout the UK.
Raymond Reynolds, 47, has been appointed to this role and will join the Board as
an Executive Director with effect from 18 December 2006. The Board believes that
this will enable the brand to be even more responsive to customers' needs in
what has become an increasingly fast-moving and competitive market place.

A key objective will be enhancing the Greggs brand's traditional position in the
mass market by meeting consumers' growing demand for more aspirational products,
while retaining its established emphasis on high quality and great value. Greggs
will also continue to expand and develop the successful Healthier Options
product range, and undertake a number of innovative trials of trading hours and
formats which have been under development in recent months.

These developments will be supported by a significant increase in research and
marketing to ensure that we fully understand and address the needs of Greggs'
customers, and to increase consumer awareness through effective advertising. We
expect this to be self-funding.

Although we would not normally provide further comment on trading until after
our year end, the Board feels that it is appropriate to take this opportunity to
update shareholders. Since our Autumn trading statement on 3 November,
like-for-like sales have increased by 2.0 per cent in the six weeks to 9
December, compared with the 0.2 per cent increase already reported for the first
19 weeks of the second half to 28 October, and a flat performance in the first
half. Although the weather has not been consistently helpful, we have benefited
from progressively easier sales comparatives with the prior year. Whilst we are
pleased by the emergence of this more positive sales trend, it has come somewhat
later than we had hoped. This delay will have only a marginal effect on the
outturn for the year. We still intend to give our usual trading update on 12
January 2007.

The rationalisation and integration of Bakers Oven in the North and Scotland is
progressing on schedule and is being generally well received by our customers.
We now believe that total closure costs will exceed our initial estimate of £2.5
million by £1.25 million, with the increase being largely property-related. The
restructuring is expected to enhance annual profits from 2007 by at least the
£1.25 million per annum originally estimated. In addition, contracts have been
exchanged, subject to planning permission, for the sale of the Carricks bakery
site in Newcastle, formerly the headquarters of Bakers Oven North, and a
property profit of over £2 million from this transaction is expected to be shown
in our 2007 accounts.

Sir Michael Darrington commented: "By focusing on the development and marketing
of a unified national brand, we aim to make the whole Greggs business more
responsive, increasing our ability to meet new competitive challenges by
delivering to our customers exactly what they want, when they want it. I am
delighted to welcome Raymond to the Board as the new national champion of the
Greggs brand. He has proved his management abilities over two successful decades
with the Group, and I am sure he is the ideal person to lead this exciting new
phase of the brand's growth."

Raymond Reynolds joined Greggs in sales management in 1986. During the later
1990s he built a significant new business for Greggs in the Edinburgh region,
and in 2002 he was appointed managing director of Greggs of Scotland, the
Group's most successful division. The managing directors of all eight Greggs
divisions in the UK will in future report through Raymond as Retail Director,
and he will report to the Group Managing Director Sir Michael Darrington.

Greggs plc confirms that it has been advised by Raymond Reynolds that there is
nothing further to disclose in relation to Rule 9.6.13 of the Listing Rules.


ENQUIRIES:
Greggs plc                                            Hudson Sandler
Sir Michael Darrington, Managing Director             Michael Sandler
Richard Hutton, Finance Director                      Tel: [phone]
Tel: [phone]





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