REG - Assoc.British Foods - Trading Update

Associated British FoodsAnnouncement

Yesterday 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
https://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20260108:nRSH0815Oa&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 0815O  Associated British Foods PLC  08 January 2026

 

 

 

 

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION

 

8 January 2026

Trading Update

Associated British Foods plc (ABF) is today providing an update on trading for
the 16 weeks to 3 January 2026 and the outlook for the 2026 financial year.
References to changes in revenue and adjusted operating profit in the
following commentary are based on constant currency and are in comparison to
the same period in the prior year, except where stated.

George Weston, Chief Executive of Associated British Foods, said:

"Primark has had a challenging start to the financial year, with a mixed
performance. In the UK, focused actions and investments to strengthen our
customer proposition have driven improved trading and market share gains,
while trading has remained weak in continental Europe. In a challenging
consumer environment, our focus is on factors within our control, including
initiatives now underway in Europe aimed at improving performance. We are also
making good progress to deliver Primark's medium and longer-term growth
opportunities. Our food businesses experienced mixed trading in the period,
particularly in the US where consumer demand in certain categories has
continued to weaken. While we expect the tough trading conditions to continue
in the short term, we remain confident in the overall prospects for the
Group."

Retail

In the UK, Primark delivered encouraging sales growth of around 3%, with
like-for-like sales growth of around 1.7% in a difficult clothing market,
particularly over Christmas. Primark gained market share in the period 1 
(#_ftn1) . The growth was the result of our actions and investments to
strengthen our customer value proposition through enhancing our product offer,
improving price perception and increasing digital customer engagement,
including Click & Collect. Our womenswear performance was particularly
strong.

In continental Europe, where similar initiatives to the UK are only recently
underway and consumer confidence remains weak, like-for-like sales declined
around 5.7% in the period. In the US, the retail environment was volatile,
which impacted consumer sentiment and footfall. Our store roll-out programme
continued across markets and as expected, contributed around 4% to sales
growth in the period, including the first store opening in Kuwait through our
franchise model.

Overall, Primark's sales growth in the period was below our previous
expectations and we now expect Primark's sales growth in the first half of
2026 to be in the low single digits. In a difficult trading environment, we
significantly increased markdowns to manage inventory levels effectively,
which impacted profitability.

We have a broad range of initiatives in place and planned for the coming
months, which we expect to drive improved sales and profitability,
particularly in Europe. However, if Primark's current sales trends were to
continue in the second half, we would expect the adjusted operating profit
margin for the full year to be approximately 10%, similar to the first half,
as we continue to invest in growth. It should be noted that in the first half
of 2025 we had a non-recurring benefit to profit of £20m.

 Market                                                         ESTIMATE                     ESTIMATE

                                    Percentage of total sales   Like-for-like sales growth   Total sales growth
 UK only                                                        +1.7%                        +3%
 UK and Ireland                     45%                         +1.1%                        +2%
 Europe (excluding UK and Ireland)  49%                         (5.7)%                       (1)%
 US                                 6%                                                       +12%
 Primark                                                        (2.7)%                       +1%

Food

In the first quarter, our Food businesses experienced mixed trading. In the
US, we had expected ongoing consumer weakness to lead to lower sales. In our
cooking oils and bakery ingredients businesses this year, the impact has been
more acute than anticipated and we are more cautious on the outlook. As a
result, we now expect both our Grocery and Ingredients segments to deliver
adjusted operating profit for the full year that is moderately below last
year. In Grocery, the effect of phasing means the impact will be more
significant in the first half of the year.

In Sugar and Agriculture, there is no change to the guidance we provided in
November 2025.

Group

The following table sets out the estimated change in revenue by business
segment for the 16-week period to 3 January 2026 in comparison to the same
period in the prior year.

 

              Estimate          Estimate

              Actual currency   Constant currency
 Retail       +4%               +1%
 Grocery      In line           +1%
 Ingredients  (3)%              (2)%
 Sugar        (2)%              (5)%
 Agriculture  (4)%              (4)%
 Group        +1%               (1)%

 

We now expect Group adjusted operating profit and adjusted EPS to be below
last year, reflecting the guidance by segment set out above.

ABF will provide final revenue by business segment for the 16 weeks to 3
January 2026 on 22 January 2026.

An investor and analyst call will be held at 08:30 today, Thursday 8 January
2026. All participants must pre-register to join this conference using the
Participant Registration link below. Once registered, an email will be sent
with your unique Registrant ID.

Please register via:
https://register-conf.media-server.com/register/BI89492fc1d5414bf88461258d9ea1805d
(https://register-conf.media-server.com/register/BI89492fc1d5414bf88461258d9ea1805d)
.

 

This announcement is deemed by Associated British Foods plc to contain inside
information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014
(as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal)
Act 2018).  On the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory
Information Service, such inside information is now considered to be in the
public domain.

The person responsible for arranging the release of this announcement on
behalf of Associated British Foods plc is Paul Lister, Director of Legal
Services and Company Secretary.

 

For further information please contact:

Associated British Foods:

+44 20 7399 6545

Joana Edwards, Interim Finance Director

Lucinda Baker, Head of Investor Relations

Joe Carberry, Corporate Affairs Director

 

Citigate Dewe Rogerson:

+44 20 7638 9571

Claire de Groot     Tel: +44 7767 254469

Jos Bieneman        Tel: +44 7834 336650

 1  (#_ftnref1) Kantar, Primark market share of the total UK clothing,
footwear and accessories market including online by value, 12-week data to 7
December 2025

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  TSTSSEEDWEMSEFF



            Copyright 2019 Regulatory News Service, all rights reserved