SHOPPERS refuelling on mince pies and coffee helped bakery chain Greggs to an “excellent” 10.8% jump in sales over Christmas and New Year.

The company, which has several shops in Huddersfield and 1,571 outlets across the UK, said like-for-like sales rose by 5.1% in the five weeks to January 7.

It sold a record 7.5m mince pies during the period to lift takings from festive bakery goods by 27%. Coffee sales increased by 21%.

Greggs said competitive market conditions had led to more promotional offers – although it does not expect this to affect its full-year results performance.

For the 2011 financial year as a whole, total sales grew by 5.8% and like-for-like sales by 1.4%.

However, its shares closed down by 1p at 517.5p yesterday against a background of renewed fears over Europe’s economic prospects.

During the year, Greggs opened a record 98 new shops and completed 170 shop refurbishments. The expansion created about 800 new jobs and took staff numbers above 20,000 for the first time.

Greggs has Huddersfield town centre stores at Kingsgate, High Street, the Piazza Shopping Centre and the Packhorse Centre.

The company said it expected another year of marginally positive like-for-like sales growth in 2012, while total sales should benefit from the addition of another 90 shops.

Chief executive Ken McMeikan said Greggs would continue to focus on product innovation and strong promotional activity as tough trading was set to continue during 2012, with consumer spending remaining under pressure.