Greggs stockpiles pork for sausage rolls ahead of Brexit

Greggs is stockpiling vital ingreidients for products such as its trademark sausage rolls. | JPIMedia

Bakery giant Greggs is stockpiling vital ingredients for products such as its trademark sausage rolls amid ongoing Brexit uncertainty.

The North East company has confirmed it is "building stocks of key ingredients and equipment that could be affected by disruption to the flow of goods into the UK".

Pork, which makes up about 20% of its sausage rolls, is thought to be one of the ingredients targeted ahead of the spectre of a no-deal Brexit on October 31.

Its contingency plan has emerged after the Newcastle firm released what it called “very strong” trading figures for the third quarter of the year.

Yet, while insisting that costs are in line with expectations, it accepts there could be "pressures on both labour and food input costs" post-Brexit.

The new figures show like-for-like sales at the retailer rose 7.4% in the 13 weeks to September 28, although this represented a slowdown from the first half of the year.

Shares in the baker, which has 1,700 stories nationwide and employs 20,000 people, slipped after it also told investors that it expected fewer shop openings by the end of the year than previously forecast.

Net openings by the start of 2020 are now expected to reach 90 and not the previous target of 100.

Ninety new stores, including in South Shields and Washington, have opened already this year while 34 sites closed during the same period.

The Government is still attempting to negotiate a new Brexit deal with the European Union ahead of the United Kingdom’s anticipated departure at the end of the month.