Bakery retailer Greggs has issued a profit warning as costs of energy and ingredients soared and the company was hit by the poor weather.

It has reduced its expectations of operating profit for the current financial year by£3 million.

Like-for-like sales growth slowed to 3.9 per cent over the 16 weeks to October 4, after rising 5.8 per cent in the first six weeks of the period.

However, in the three weeks to October 4 like-for-likes rose 5.7 per cent.

Greggs said it is seeing a stabilisation of costs, which combined with tightened control of operating costs, “promises a more positive outlook for operating margins in the final 12 weeks of the year”.

Greggs operates 1,399 stores in the UK.