Primark performance "encouraging" in new financial year, opens latest French store on Friday

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 9, 2022

It was a very brief update, but a welcome one nonetheless. Ahead of its annual general meeting on Friday, Primark owner Associated British Foods issued a statement saying that all is going well at the budget fashion chain. There appears to be no downturn in consumer spending to derail its ambitious plans for the retailer.

Company Chairman Michael McLintock said that further to the firm’s annual results that were released last month, “our outlook for the full year is unchanged. We continue to expect further significant input cost inflation, but the volatility of our input costs has diminished”.

And “at this early stage, Primark trading in this financial year has been encouraging”. 

He added that the company is on track to open as many as 27 new stores this financial year, with a hefty 10 of them coming in the run-up to Christmas. To date it has opened six of them, including one on Friday in Angers, France.  

A couple of weeks ago the company said it would open four stores in the UK market with the creation of up to 850 jobs in the next two years. 

And it has also been talking up its plans for the US market where it appears to be going from strength to strength. The company had earlier announced plans for 10 openings that would double its American store count. And this week its US chief said it has a goal to reach 60 US stores by the end of 2026.

Back to Friday’s news, for the full year, ABF continues to expect “significant” growth in sales for the group, although adjusted operating profit and adjusted earnings per share will be lower than the previous financial year.