Associated British Foods 1st Half Profit Fell as Pandemic Weighs on Primark
April 20 2021 - 3:00AM
Dow Jones News
By Matteo Castia
Associated British Foods PLC on Tuesday reported a fall in
pretax profit for the first half of fiscal 2021 as the coronavirus
pandemic has continued to weigh on revenue at its clothing arm
Primark.
The British conglomerate made a pretax profit of 275 million
pounds ($384.6 million) in the 24 weeks ended Feb. 27, compared
with GBP298 million in the year-earlier period.
Revenue fell to GBP6.31 billion from GBP7.65 billion, largely
due to declining sales at Primark amid store closures owing to the
pandemic.
Indeed, sales lost at the fashion retailer amounted to GBP1.10
billion in the first half compared with a year ago, and were still
down 15% on the year on a like-for-like basis after reopening due
to lower footfall and category spending, the company said.
Associated British Foods warned that it expects a further GBP700
million of lost sales in the second half.
The company had warned on Feb. 25 that Primark would suffer loss
of sales of GBP1.10 billion in the first half and further GBP480
million in the second half due to the pandemic.
Primark revenue in the first half was GBP2.23 billion,
Associated British Foods said Monday.
The company also said business in its other divisions--grocery,
sugar, agriculture, ingredients--was strong during the first half
but will be weaker in the second half.
The board declared an interim dividend of 6.2 pence. No dividend
was declared at half-year results for fiscal 2020, due to the
pandemic.
"The degree of uncertainty is now substantially lower than last
year due to a large proportion of the UK adult population having
been vaccinated and the successful reopening of Primark's English
and Welsh stores," the company said.
Write to Matteo Castia at matteo.castia@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 20, 2021 02:45 ET (06:45 GMT)
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