Associated British Foods PLC AGM Trading Statement (7287J)
December 07 2018 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMABF
RNS Number : 7287J
Associated British Foods PLC
07 December 2018
7 December 2018
Associated British Foods plc is holding its Annual General
Meeting today. At the meeting the Chairman, Michael McLintock, will
say:
"At this early stage in our new financial year, sales and profit
for the first 8 weeks of trading for the group were in line with
expectations. However, during November Primark trading was
challenging, in a tough retail market, but with careful inventory
management and improved margins, our expectation for the increase
in Primark profit is unchanged.
I reiterate the Group outlook statement for the current
financial year that was included in the annual report.
Primark's selling space expansion will continue and we expect an
increase in retail profit for the year. Following the opening of a
store in Belfast tomorrow, we will be trading from 364 stores and a
total selling space of 15.1m sq ft. In Grocery we expect an
improvement in profit from a margin increase in our Australian and
UK businesses and a full year contribution from Acetum. The profit
at AB Sugar will be significantly lower reflecting the full year
effect of EU sugar prices.
At current exchange rates we expect no material translation or
transactional effect on profit but the sterling exchange rate can
be expected to be volatile given a period of intense Brexit
negotiations.
Taking all of these factors into account, at this early stage,
we still expect adjusted earnings per share for the group for this
financial year to be in line with the 2018 financial year."
For further enquiries please contact:
Associated British Foods
John Bason, Finance Director Tel: 020 7399 6500
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Chris Barrie, Jos Bieneman Tel: 020 7638 9571
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END
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