Shares in Greggs have jumped 2.5% in early trading today (March 5) after it reported a 27% rise in profits.

Most of the bakery chain's staff will also benefit, as the company shares ten per cent of those profits with team members with at least six months of service.

As part of its financial report, the company posted that it has opened a "record" 220 new shops in the year to December, so the firm now has 2,473 outlets across the UK.

As for the profits, although the company said on the sales side they were slowing, thousands of Greggs workers will share £17.6 million in bonuses this month, PA Media reports.

Greggs was founded by John Gregg, a Tyneside baker who started in 1939.

It opened its first shop in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne in 1951.

Greggs has stores in the centre of Frome, on the edge of town and in the former mobile phone shop at Wessex Fields.