Associated British Foods has posted a trading update for the 40 weeks to 18 June, in which it says that its Primark retail business has seen a 7% increase in sales since the same period last year, at constant currency rates.
Retail selling space for Primark has increased by 0.8 million square feet since the beginning of the financial year, ABF said.
The group's grocery business 'continued with some improvement in revenue growth in the third quarter', it added, with Twinings Ovaltine making further advances in its biggest markets of the UK, US and Thailand.
Revenue at AB Sugar was was higher than last year at constant currency levels, with a 'reduction of EU stock levels and, more recently, an increase in world sugar prices [resulting] in a strengthening of European sugar prices'.
On the impact of the Brexit, ABF noted that it has 'diverse interests' across some 48 countries. 'Sterling has weakened significantly since the referendum vote,' it said. 'If current exchange rates continue there will be a translation benefit for the remainder of this financial year. In our next financial year, these rates would have both positive and negative effects on profit.'
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
