UK's Greggs raises profit guidance after strong Christmas

LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - British baker and food-on-the-go seller Greggs (Stuttgart: 41G1.SG - news) forecast full year profit slightly ahead of previous expectations after enjoying strong sales in its Christmas quarter.

But the Newcastle, northern England, based firm, which sells sandwiches, sausage rolls, bakes and pastries, also cautioned on Tuesday that there was greater uncertainty in the trading environment with increased pressure on real income growth.

It said it continued to expect some industry-wide cost pressures in 2017 and these were likely to have a modest impact on margins in the short term.

Greggs said sales at company-managed shops open over a year rose 6.4 percent in its fiscal fourth quarter to Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) . 31.

That compared to third quarter growth of 2.8 percent and took like-for-like sales growth for the full 2016 year to 4.2 percent. ($1 = 0.8256 pounds) (Reporting by James Davey, Editing by Sarah Young)