AB Foods (LON:ABF) kept full-year outlook unchanged on Thursday, as a strong performance from Primark partially outweighed weakness in its sugar business.
For the 40 weeks ended 23 June, group revenue from continuing businesses grew 3 percent compared with the same period last year at constant currency and 2 percent ahead at actual exchange rates. Excluding AB Sugar’s weakness, sales growth from continuing businesses was 6 percent ahead of last year at constant currency and 5 percent ahead at actual exchange rates.
After yet another strong performance from Primark the retailer raised its outlook on the group, saying it had been tightly managing its stock and adding that revenue from promotions, discounts and sales would be better than expected too.
“As a result, the profit from Primark will now be higher than expected,” AB Foods said.
However, AB Sugar’s revenue was down 17 percent after being negatively affected by lower EU prices.
“Compared to our previous expectation, we now expect a reduced profit from AB Sugar as a consequence of lower EU sugar prices and an increased profit from Primark driven by higher margins,” the company said in a statement.
“As a result, our full year outlook for the group is unchanged with progress expected in adjusted operating profit and adjusted earnings per share.”
Shares in AB Foods (LON:ABF) are currently down 4.49 percent on the news, at 2,595.00 (0853GMT).
