Interim Results

GREGGS PLC
6 August 1999

        
                       INTERIM RESULTS
             FOR THE 24 WEEKS ENDED 19 JUNE 1999
                                       
*    Record pre-tax profit of £6.4 million - up 5.7 per cent

*    Diluted earnings per share up 5.0 per cent to 38.1 pence

*    Interim dividend raised 8.0 per cent to 13.5 pence per share

*    Major investment in management, facilities and systems to support future 
     growth

*    Group like for like sales up 7.0 per cent - core volumes up 4.8 per cent

*    Strong progress by Greggs divisions - core volumes up 6.1 per cent

*    Re-branding Thurston and Braggs divisions as Greggs

*    Core volumes in Bakers Oven divisions up 2.0 per cent

*    New £2 million Group Technical Centre to open May 2000

*    'We expect to maintain our profit progress in the second half of the year
     and look forward to achieving improved results in the future as the
     benefits of our investment programme flow through.'
 
                                         - Mike Darrington, Managing Director
                                                                              
ENQUIRIES:

Greggs plc                                         Hudson Sandler
Mike Darrington, Managing Director                 Keith Hann / Justin Strong
Malcolm Simpson, Financial Director                Tel: [phone]
Tel:      [phone] on Friday, 6 August only
          0191 281 7721 thereafter
     
                     MANAGING DIRECTOR'S INTERIM STATEMENT

The  key  features of the first half were our success in driving forward  like
for  like  sales, and in improving our management, facilities and  systems  to
achieve our vision of sustained profitable growth.

Results

Across  the group as a whole, like for like sales grew by 7.0 per cent in  the
first  24 weeks of 1999. Core volumes increased by 4.8 per cent.  Total  sales
were up 8.5 per cent at £137.0 million, while pre-tax profits advanced by  5.7
per  cent  to  £6.4  million.   Higher  central  costs  as  a  result  of  the
strengthening of our management and technical resources were the  main  factor
affecting  margins.  Diluted earnings per share were 5.0 per cent  ahead
at 38.1 pence.

Dividend

The Board has declared an interim dividend of 13.5 pence per share (1998: 12.5
pence).   This  is  an increase of 8.0 per cent, reflecting our  long-standing
commitment to a progressive dividend policy, and our confidence in the  future
prospects  of the group.  The interim dividend will be paid on 8 October  1999
to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 10 September 1999.

Trading performance

The core Greggs divisions continued to perform very well, achieving total like
for  like  sales growth of 8.3 per cent in the period, including  core  volume
growth  of  6.1  per cent.  This was driven primarily by the  success  of  our
takeaway  food  range of sandwiches and savoury products.  Our  initiative  to
raise  brand awareness through TV advertising in Scotland and the  North  East
produced good results.  The re-branding of Thurston as Greggs of Yorkshire  is
under  way,  and  the  re-branding of Braggs as Greggs of  the  Midlands  will
commence  during the second half.  The initial costs of changing shop  fascias
and  point  of  sale material will be borne in the current year, but  benefits
will  flow  through  progressively in the future from our focus  on  a  single
national brand.

The Bakers Oven divisions achieved like for like sales growth of 4.1 per cent,
including  core volume growth of 2.0 per cent.  We continued our programme  to
develop  Baker's  Oven  as  our premium brand, tightening  its  focus  by  the
transfer of 14 shops to the Greggs fascia during the first half.  We completed
16 further conversions to our new seated catering format, giving us a total of
37  such units by the end of the half year.  Sales performance of the
conversions has been generally encouraging, although capital and running costs
have been high.  We are therefore slowing the rate of investment in the short
term to allow management to refocus on the key issues of quality, service and
costs, and on the improvement of profitability.

Investing for the future

We have significantly increased our central and divisional management resource
in  a number of areas, including information technology, purchasing, sales and
marketing,  product development, quality assurance, shop design, training  and
personnel.  As we anticipated, this has increased our cost base in the current
year,  but  is critical to the delivery of our strategy for long term  growth.
Further  costs will be incurred in the second half as we develop  our  new  £2
million  Group Technical Centre at Balliol Park in Newcastle upon Tyne,  which
is scheduled to open in May 2000.

We  are  achieving steadily improving performances from the two major  capital
projects we completed last year.  The quality of products from our new central
savouries  unit at Balliol Park has been favourably received by the  divisions
it  is supplying, while unit costs have been reduced. Customer recognition  of
improved product quality and consistency has contributed to our like for  like
sales growth.  The new distribution facility for Bakers Oven at Kettering  is
providing  an  excellent  service,  significantly  better  than  the  previous
outsourced operation, and costs are being progressively managed down.

We opened 24 new shops during the first 24 weeks and closed 23, of which seven
were relocations to better sites.  Following this net addition of one shop, we
had  a  total  of  1,073 units trading at 19 June.  We expect the  pattern  of
openings and closures in the second half to be similar to that in the first 24
weeks.  We refitted 37 shops during the first 24 weeks and we plan to refit  a
further 42 by the year end.

Capital expenditure during the first 24 weeks totalled £11.2 million, compared
with  £9.2  million in the same period last year.  Following our  decision  to
moderate  the pace of new concept developments for Bakers Oven in the  second
half,  capital  expenditure for the year is now estimated  at  £24.4  million,
compared with £26.2 million in 1998.

Balance sheet

Cash  flow  remains strong, and we ended the half year with net  cash  on  the
balance sheet of £6.1 million, compared with £8.7 million at 2 January 1999.

Year 2000

All  of  our  computer hardware, operating systems and application programmes,
other  than our fixed assets system, are now Year 2000 compliant, and we  will
complete their roll-out across all divisions by the end of August.  The  fixed
asset  system is being rewritten and will be installed throughout by late
November.

All  control  chips in our bakery and shop equipment that are not  subject  to
manufacturers'  assurances of compliance have been tested and  replaced  where
necessary.   We  have commissioned an independent audit of this  work  by  two
specialist consultancies to confirm that our procedures have been thorough and
successful.   We  are continuing to liaise with our suppliers to  ensure  that
they  are  adequately prepared and that our supply arrangements  will  not  be
compromised.

The  costs of our millennium compliance programme, most of which have now been
incurred, are not material to the group.

Outlook

Our  trading performance trends in the second half to date are similar to that
of  the  first  24 weeks.  We continue to bear the increased costs  associated
with  our  forward-looking  investments in  people,  facilities,  systems  and
brands.   In addition, the days on which Christmas and New Year fall, together
with an  extra Millennium bank holiday, mean that we will substantially 
under-recover our fixed costs in the final week of 1999.  Nevertheless, we
expect to maintain  our profit progress in the second half of the year and
look  forward to  achieving improved results in the future as the benefits of
our investment programme flow through.

                                                             Mike Darrington
                                                             Managing Director
                                                             6 August 1999
                         GROUP PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT
                      FOR THE 24 WEEKS ENDED 19 JUNE 1999

                                      24 weeks to   24 weeks to   52 weeks to
                                          19 June       13 June     2 January
                                             1999          1998          1999
                                            £'000         £'000         £'000

TURNOVER                                  137,020       126,252       291,420
                                          -----------------------------------
OPERATING PROFIT                            6,468         6,061        20,215

Net interest payable and other
 similar expenses                             (70)           (6)           (1)
                                          -----------------------------------
PROFIT ON ORDINARY ACTIVITIES
 BEFORE TAXATION                            6,398         6,055        20,214

Taxation on profit on ordinary activities  (1,823)       (1,726)       (5,756)
                                          -----------------------------------
PROFIT ON ORDINARY ACTIVITIES
 AFTER TAXATION                             4,575         4,329        14,458

Dividends                                  (1,605)       (1,453)       (4,844)
                                          -----------------------------------
RETAINED PROFIT FOR THE PERIOD              2,970         2,876         9,614
                                           ======        ======        ======
Earnings per share                          38.5p         37.3p        122.8p
Diluted earnings per share                  38.1p         36.3p        121.7p


                              GROUP BALANCE SHEET
                                AT 19 JUNE 1999



                                               19 June    13 June   2 January
                                                  1999       1998        1999
                                                 £'000      £'000       £'000

FIXED ASSETS
Tangible assets                                105,610     90,481     100,309
Investments                                      1,486        333       1,486
                                             --------------------  ----------
                                               107,096     90,814     101,795
CURRENT ASSETS
Stocks                                           5,507      4,664       5,880
Debtors                                         10,443      9,888       9,927
Cash at bank and in hand                         7,424     10,431       8,734
                                             --------------------  ----------
                                                23,374     24,983      24,541

CREDITORS: amounts falling due within one year (53,526)   (48,350)    (51,350)
                                             --------------------  ----------
NET CURRENT LIABILITIES                        (30,152)   (23,367)    (26,809)
                                             --------------------  ----------

TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES           76,944     67,447      74,986

CREDITORS: amounts falling due after more
 than one year                                  (3,095)    (4,930)     (4,236)

PROVISIONS FOR LIABILITIES AND CHARGES
Deferred taxation                               (1,165)    (1,257)     (1,165)
                                             --------------------  ----------
                                                72,684     61,260      69,585
                                                ======     ======      ======
CAPITAL AND RESERVES

Called up share capital                          2,379      2,356       2,375
Share premium account                            8,569      6,767       8,444
Profit and loss account                         61,736     52,137      58,766
                                             --------------------  ----------
Equity shareholders' funds                      72,684     61,260      69,585
                                                ======     ======      ======

                     SUMMARISED GROUP CASH FLOW STATEMENT
                      FOR THE 24 WEEKS ENDED 19 JUNE 1999


                                24 weeks to     24 weeks to     52 weeks to
                                  19 June         13 June        2 January
                                   1999             1998            1999
                             £'000     £'000  £'000    £'000   £'000    £'000

Operating profit                       6,468           6,061           20,215
Depreciation                           5,846           4,914           11,146
Loss / (profit) on disposal
 of fixed assets                          27              (3)             (77)
Release of government grants             (11)            (12)             (58)


Decrease / (increase) in
 stocks                       373               191           (1,025)
Increase in debtors          (516)             (644)            (660)
Increase in creditors       1,178             2,569            5,361
                          --------          --------         --------

Net decrease in working
 capital                               1,035           2,116            3,676
                                    --------        --------         --------
Net cash inflow from
 continuing operating
  activities                          13,365          13,076           34,902

Returns on investments
 and servicing of finance                (70)             17               (1)

Taxation paid                           (363)           (318)          (3,711)

Capital expenditure and
 financial investments               (11,174)         (9,153)         (26,292)

Equity dividends paid                 (3,373)         (2,944)          (4,477)

Net cash outflow from financing         (975)           (912)            (322)
                                  ----------      ----------       ----------
Net (decrease) / increase in cash     (2,590)           (234)              99
                                      ======           ======          ======

NOTES

1.   The interim results are unaudited.
2.   The comparative figures for the 53 weeks ended 2 January 1999 are not the
     Company's statutory accounts for that financial year.  Those accounts    
     have been reported on by the Company's auditors and delivered to the     
     Registrar of Companies.  The report of the auditors was unqualified and  
     did not contain a statement under Section 237(2) or (4) of the Companies 
     Act 1985.
3.   The interim report is being posted to all shareholders and copies are
     available on application to the Secretary, Greggs plc, Fernwood House,   
     Clayton Road, Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 1TL.