Primark reveals "excellent Christmas trading"

Associated British Foods plc (ABF), parent company of value retailer Primark,

announced “excellent Christmas trading at Primark” for the 16 weeks to January 4, 2014.

The company witnessed a strong 12 percent growth in sales over the holiday season, and with the benefit of a stronger euro, sales were 14 percent ahead of the same period last year at actual rates. The excellent performance enjoyed by Primark was driven by an 8 percent increase in retail selling space, strong like-for-like growth and higher sales quantities from new stores.

ABF stated that like-for-like sales in the first eight weeks were slightly weaker, due to the unseasonably warm weather, however the second half of the sales period was distinguished by strong Christmas trading, with good like-for-like growth. Primark opened 14 new stores in the period, including its first store in Marseilles, France on December 16, 2013, which has been one of the value retailers best store openings to date.

The company plans to add an additional 0.5 million square feet of selling space during the course of this financial year, which will bring the net additions for the year to 1.1 million square feet, an 8 percent increase in selling space.

Full-year profits for Primark are predicted to be “well ahead” of last year, concluded ABF, but the overall group profits will remain flat as sugar sales at ABF yielded less than expected. Exact sales figures are set to be announced during ABF presentation of its annual results.