Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
GRAHAM HISCOTT Primark hits out at ‘unfair’ rates bill Boss says online rival quids in
The owner of Ladbrokes Coral is odds-on to deliver forecast-beating profits for last year.
Isle of Man-based gambling operator GVC Holdings, which bought the bookies for £4billion last March, said revenues rose 5% over the final three months of 2018. A 15% jump from its online arm offset a 3% drop in betting shops. Boss Kenny Alexander said annual profits would be in the £750-£755million range. ONLINE fashion firms enjoy an “unfair” tax boost, says a top boss of budget chain Primark.
John Bason said Primark – which stocks a range by Loose Women star Stacey Solomon – paid £70million a year in business rates on its 185 UK stores. Owner Associated British Foods also coughed up around £90m in corporation tax. Bason, ABF’S finance chief, said: “Online competitors don’t have that.” He continued: “For God’s sake, let’s make sure we have thriving high streets. Let’s make sure we don’t have a tax system that is unfairly weighted.”
Primark, which doesn’t sell clothes online, had an ok end to 2018, with UK sales up 1% in the 16 weeks to January 5, when the wider market was down.
Sales including those in Europe and the US rose 4%, with profits “well ahead” of last year, said ABF. Bason backed the high street as it geared up for the opening of its biggest ever store, a “blockbuster” branch in Birmingham. He also used the update to warn of the “reckless” impact of a no-deal Brexit. “If anyone believes you can just go ahead without some sort of an agreement here, I think that is reckless”, he said.
As well as the clothing chain, ABF is one of Britain’s big food producers, owning Ovaltine, Twinings tea and Jordans cereals. It also has a large sugarproducing arm.
ABF’S share price jumped 7% yesterday despite it reporting a 12% drop in sugar sales.