REG - Assoc.British Foods - Third Quarter Trading Update

Associated British FoodsAnnouncement

26/06/2023 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20230626:nRSZ8108Da&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 8108D  Associated British Foods PLC  26 June 2023

26 JUNE 2023

 

Third Quarter trading update

 

 

Associated British Foods plc today issues a trading update for the 12 weeks to
27 May 2023 summarising the significant trading developments since the last
market update.

 

Trading performance

 

The following table sets out revenues by business segment for the third
quarter of the financial year and for year to date.

 

              Third quarter  Change at constant      Year to date  Change at constant

              £m             currency                £m            currency
 Grocery      1,058          +13%                    3,163             +11%
 Sugar        665            +51%                    1,854         +35%
 Agriculture  458            +4%                     1,408         +11%
 Ingredients  547            +10%                    1,635         +20%
 Total Food   2,728          +18%                    8,060         +18%
 Retail       1,998          +13%                    6,226         +15%
 Group        4,726          +16%                    14,286        +17%

 

References to growth in the following commentary are based on constant
currency except where stated.

 

Food

 

Trading across our Food businesses has continued to be good, following the
trends seen in our second quarter. In particular, we have seen strong constant
currency sales growth in Grocery and Ingredients largely driven by the
necessary pricing actions taken earlier in the year to offset input cost
increases.

 

In Sugar, trading has continued to be strong across its key African markets.
As previously announced, British Sugar has had to secure alternative sources
of supply as a consequence of the production shortfall from the 2022/23
campaign. After delayed planting, the 2023 UK beet sugar crop is now
progressing well.

 

Retail

 

Primark has continued to trade in line with our expectations, with summer
ranges performing well as the season started in our markets. Sales grew by 13%
in the quarter, with like-for-like sales growth of 7%, supported by higher
average selling prices. Like-for-like sales growth for the year to date is now
9%. Like- for-like sales growth in the quarter was 6% in the UK and 7% in
Europe excluding the UK. As well as seasonal clothing and accessories, sales
in health and beauty products were particularly strong. Sales in our flagship
city centre stores have continued to be good.

 

The deployment of Primark's much-improved website continued, launching in
Germany, Spain, Italy, and the US in the period and in France shortly after
the period ended. The remaining markets will follow over the summer.

 

The contribution from new and extended stores continues to be strong. Our
exciting store expansion plan remains on track. We opened four stores in the
period: Venice, Italy; Walden Galleria, Buffalo, NY; Toledo, Spain; and
Bratislava, Slovakia, our first in that country which becomes our 16(th)
market. In the US, we have now signed the lease for our first store in Texas.

 

Overall

 

The Group continues to trade well. Based on current trading conditions, we now
expect the Group's adjusted operating profit for the full year to be
moderately ahead of last year. Adjusted EPS will also benefit from a Group
Effective Tax Rate that is now expected to be below that seen in the first
half of the year.

 

As at the close of trading 23(rd) June we have completed £319m of the £500m
share buyback programme

 

For further information please contact:

 

 Associated British Foods:
 Tel: 020 7399 6545
 Eoin Tonge, Finance Director
 Ian Mace, Investor Relations

 Citigate Dewe Rogerson:
 Tel: 020 7638 9571
 Holly Gillis     Tel: 07940 797560
 Angharad Couch   Tel: 07507 643004

 

Notes:

 

- Definitions of the alternative performance measures referred to in this
announcement can be found in note 30 of our Annual Report and Accounts 2022.

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  TSTPPUMCQUPWGMA