Investors underestimate Greggs at their peril. So, too, it turns out, do columnists. Tempus failed to appreciate the resilience of the bakery chain when it said in December that the shares should be avoided. Since the last visit, Greggs has delivered three trading updates, two of them profit upgrades and each outlining a strong and successive increase in underlying as well as top-line sales. It has reported a healthy rise in annual profits, lifted the dividend by more than 10 per cent and promised a special payout at the half-year results next month. The shares have gone up by 60 per cent since the previous recommendation. Whoops.
Greggs was founded as an eggs and yeast delivery operation in Newcastle by John Gregg in 1951, opening