Business
Trading Update
Associated British Foods plc reported a challenging start to the financial year with Primark's sales growth below expectations, now projected for the first half of 2026 to be in the low single digits, impacted by increased markdowns affecting profitability. While the UK saw encouraging sales growth of around 3% and market share gains, continental Europe experienced a like-for-like sales decline of approximately 5.7%. The company anticipates Primark's full-year adjusted operating profit margin to be around 10%, similar to the first half, due to ongoing investment. Food businesses faced mixed trading, with US cooking oils and bakery ingredients performing more acutely below expectations, leading to a forecast of moderately lower adjusted operating profit for both Grocery and Ingredients segments compared to last year. Overall Group revenue saw a 1% decrease in constant currency for the 16 weeks to 3 January 2026. Disclaimer*
About this update from Associated British Foods Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n \n \n\nTHIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION\n \n8 January 2026\nTrading Update\nAssociated 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.\nGeorge Weston, Chief Executive of Associated British Foods, said:\n\"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.\"\nRetail\nIn 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]. 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.\nIn 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 t...