UK's Associated British Foods H1 adj. EPS misses on retail margin pressure

Associated British Foods

21/04/2026 07:14

Overview

UK food and retail group's H1 revenue slightly missed analyst expectations, declining 2% yr/yr

Adjusted EPS and adjusted operating profit for H1 missed analyst expectations

Company to demerge Primark retail business from Food business, as announced after group review

Outlook

Company maintains full-year outlook, except now expects Sugar to post an adjusted operating loss in 2026

Group expects 2026 adjusted operating profit and adjusted EPS to be below last year

Company says cost impacts from Middle East conflict expected to be manageable in 2026, but risks remain

Result Drivers

RETAIL INVESTMENT & MARGIN PRESSURE - Retail profit declined due to higher markdowns, increased investment in product, marketing and digital, and weak like-for-like sales in Europe

GROCERY PROFIT DROP - Grocery adjusted operating profit fell 20%, mainly due to weak demand in US oils and higher cocoa costs and tariffs impacting international brands

SUGAR LOSS - Sugar segment posted an operating loss, mainly due to lower average selling prices in Europe and higher production costs

Company press release: ID:nRSU1994Ba

Key Details

Metric
Beat/Miss
Actual
Consensus Estimate
H1 Revenue
Slight Miss*
GBP 9.47 bln
GBP 9.55 bln (5 Analysts)
H1 Adjusted EPS
Miss
GBP 0.71
GBP 0.99 (4 Analysts)
H1 Adjusted Operating Profit
Miss
GBP 691 mln
GBP 713.75 mln (4 Analysts)
H1 Adjusted Pretax Profit
Miss
GBP 663 mln
GBP 705 mln (1 Analyst)
H1 Dividend
GBP 0.21


*Applies to a deviation of less than 1%; not applicable for per-share numbers.

Analyst Coverage

The current average analyst rating on the shares is "hold" and the breakdown of recommendations is 1 "strong buy" or "buy", 12 "hold" and 6 "sell" or "strong sell"

The average consensus recommendation for the food processing peer group is "buy."

Wall Street's median 12-month price target for Associated British Foods PLC is GBp1,950.00, about 3.4% above its April 20 closing price of GBp1,885.00

The stock recently traded at 11 times the next 12-month earnings vs. a P/E of 11 three months ago

For questions concerning the data in this report, contact Estimates.Support@lseg.com. For any other questions or feedback, contact reuters.support@thomsonreuters.com.

(This story was created using Reuters automation and AI based on LSEG and company data. It was checked and edited by a Reuters journalist prior to publication.)