Cold weather bites into sales but Greggs hots up the divi

Sales for the year to the end of December fell 7.1% to £628 million, leading to an 8% slump in profits to £45 million.

Chairman Derek Netherton said it was a challenging year because of rising energy and ingredient costs and "fragile" consumer confidence.

He warned that the first two weeks in February had been "significantly" hit by snow.

Greggs wants to do a share split to make the stock more appealing to small investors and its own staff.

It plans to divide each existing share into 10 new ones, assuming shareholders give the go-ahead.

The shares today rose 100p to 3700p. The dividend is lifted 6% to 149p.