Trading Statement

Greggs PLC
20 October 2004

                                                                 20 October 2004



                                   GREGGS plc

                                 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 1,200 retail outlets throughout the UK, trading under the Greggs and
                              Bakers Oven brands.



Group Managing Director Sir Michael Darrington reports: 'I am pleased to
announce a good performance in the second half to date.  Group like-for-sales
for the 18 weeks to 16 October have increased by 6.2%, slightly ahead of our
expectations, while total sales have grown by 9.8%.  As anticipated in our
interim results statement, like-for-like sales growth moderated after the
exceptionally strong increase of 7.4% reported for the first seven weeks, which
reflected comparison with the period of very hot weather in summer 2003, and has
averaged 5.4% over the most recent 11 weeks.



Our selling price inflation, which averaged 2.1% in the first half, is currently
running at 2.4%.  We believe that this upward trend is likely to continue.
Labour costs are rising as we respond to market pressures on wages in the retail
sector, thereby ensuring that we can continue to attract and retain the high
quality people on whom our reputation for good service depends.  We are also
experiencing significant increases in energy and protein prices.



We have added a total of 24 shops, net of closures, in the year to date, and now
expect to exceed our stated target of adding a net 30 shops to our estate by the
year-end.



Our budgets assume that like-for-like sales growth will trend gently downwards
over the remainder of this year, reflecting the steadily strengthening
comparative performance in 2003.  Profits to date are in line with our
expectations, and we continue to look forward to reporting satisfactory progress
over the year as a whole.'




ENQUIRIES:
Greggs plc                                          gcg hudson sandler
Sir Michael Darrington, Managing Director           James Hill / Jessica Rouleau
Malcolm Simpson, Financial Director                 Tel:  [phone]
Tel:   [phone]                                keithhann.communications
                                                    Keith Hann
                                                    Tel:  [phone]




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange