Greggs (LON:GRG) served up a £20mln special dividend to investors today after sales in the first four months of the year beat expectations.
The bakery chain said like-for-like sales rose 5.9% in the first 16 weeks of the year, up from 3.8% during the same time in 2014.
Customers are enjoying its freshly made sandwiches, salads and drinks ranges, the retailer reckons. Breakfast meals have also been an important driver of growth.
Greggs said has completed 69 shop refurbishment since the start of the year and plans to refit a total of 200 to 220 stores in the whole of 2015.
It also opened 24 new shops in the period, putting its total at 1,656.
As a result of all this, the chain served up a special surprise for its shareholders worth £20mln - or 20p per share special dividend.
The company added that it expects market conditions to remain favourable and support a good first half performance, ahead of its previous expectations.
Shares rose 2% to 1,100p.