THE traditional stottie cake has helped provide the perfect filling for bakery group, Greggs which has announced record half year pre-tax profits.

The North-East group, forever linked with that most famous of regional delicacies, saw strong sales of savouries and sandwiches put the icing on the cake of its performance.

Greggs added that take-away food and catering had performed particularly well and helped like-for-like sales rise by six per cent compared to the same period last year.

Managing director of the Newcastle-based company Mike Darrington said he was "extremely pleased" by the company's record profits, which, he added, had risen for the eighth year in succession.

"We have continued to benefit from our focus on achieving good returns on past investments," he said.

"We have good growth in core volumes in both the Greggs and Bakers Oven brands, and profitability has benefited from our past investment in people, brands, shops, factories and systems.

"This is the eighth successive year that we have achieved record profits and the earnings per share have risen each of those years."

Profits before tax for the 24 weeks ending June 17 were up 22 per cent at £7.8m compared with £6.4m a year earlier. Sales for the first half at its 1,084-strong chain of Greggs and Bakers Oven outlets grew by eight per cent to £148.2m.

The group, which sells a million sandwiches a week is banking on people's buying habits continuing, and the figures show it is more than make up for the loss of traditional bread sales - increasingly gobbled up by the supermarket groups. But as Mr Darrington explained the threat from the supermarkets has been seized on by the company to its benefit.

"We saw that threat coming and we evolved much more into a take-away, sandwich and savoury outlet," he added. "We have always been able to react to these situations in good time."

Capital expenditure during the half was £9m, compared with £11.2m in the comparable period last year with the highlight in April seeing the group's new £2m technical facility in Newcastle opening.

The group believes the facility will help put it out in pole position in the marketplace, giving it grater impetus to improve quality and consistency of all its products.

The group employs around 2,500 of its 14,000 UK workforce in the region, and the new development on Tyneside confirmed the firm's heart remains in the North-East. But one of its success stories this year has been the money raised at its Bakers Oven outlet located in the much maligned Millennium Dome.

Mr Darrington said its outlet at the Greenwich venue had performed above expectations and was making a good return on the initial investment.