Primark cuts a dash with record Xmas performance
Primark owner Associated British Foods (AB Foods) has cheered record festive sales at the low-cost fashion chain, but warned that sugar revenues would suffer from plunging prices.
The FTSE 100 group said Primark’s performance in the week before Christmas hit an all-time high, with sales lifting 7 per cent in the 16 weeks to 6 January once exchange rate changes were stripped out.
The fashion retailer, which bolstered its footprint to 350 stores after launching five new shops over the period, also enjoyed “good trading” in the five weeks leading up to Christmas.
Growth was underpinned by the robust UK market and an increase in retail space, helping the chain to shrug off unseasonably warm weather in October which pegged back European sales. It added that like-for-like sales were “strong” as it snapped up a greater share of the market.
At the group’s sugar business, revenues fell by 12 per cent at constant currency.