After a surprisingly good third business quarter, the Primark parent company AB Foods expects slightly more operating profit for the year as a whole. The result adjusted for special effects should be slightly above the previous year’s figure, said Associated British Foods on Monday in London. So far, the conglomerate had expected about as much as in the previous financial year, when it booked around 1.4 billion British pounds as adjusted operating profit.
In the twelve weeks to May 27, group sales rose by around 16 percent compared to the same period last year to 4.7 billion British pounds (almost 5.5 billion euros), thereby exceeding the average expectations of analysts: inside.
While management described the development in the entire food segment as good, Primark’s important sales of cheap clothes failed “as expected”. Here the proceeds increased by 13 percent to almost 2 billion British pounds. However, analysts had hoped for a little more here. Primark accounted for a good two-fifths of group sales in the third fiscal quarter. (dpa)