Primark owner Associated British Foods bullish about future

Primark owner Associated British Foods today said that it expects total sales for the half year to be more than 20 per cent ahead of last year.

AB Foods said: “Trading at Primark has been good in all its markets, well ahead of expectations, and represents a material improvement in both the UK and Europe on the second half of our last financial year.”

It added: “Looking ahead to the second half, we remain cautious about the resilience of consumer discretionary spending in the face of continuing inflation in the cost of living and higher interest rates.

“Our expectation is that like-for-like sales growth in the second half will be lower than that achieved in the first half but, based on our experience to date, will be better than our previous expectation.”