Primark’s proprietor has reported “very strong” buying and selling over Christmas, admitting that shopper spending was stronger than it had anticipated amid the squeeze on family budgets.
Associated British Foods (ABF) reported a 15% rise in retail gross sales over the 16 weeks to 7 January.
In the UK, Primark mentioned a lot of its 15% raise on the identical interval final 12 months was achieved on a like-for-like foundation, which means the expansion couldn’t be credited to new Primark retailer openings.
The firm pointed to report demand within the run-up to Christmas, with its gross sales on the continent and elsewhere additionally rising on the again of its worth providing.
The prospect of a reduced purchasing expertise has proved engaging to customers throughout a lot of the western world given the pressures positioned on the purse strings from energy-led inflation.
The price of residing disaster has been the primary risk to retailers – particularly these within the non-essential spending sphere.
Official retail gross sales figures for the UK, launched final week, confirmed a shock drop throughout the important thing month of December regardless of a largely upbeat set of buying and selling updates from listed retailers for the reason that festive season completed.
ABF, which additionally owns main sugar, grocery, agriculture and components companies, mentioned its complete income rose 16% on a continuing forex foundation.
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Despite the upbeat efficiency, the corporate mentioned its outlook for the total 12 months was unchanged.
It is anticipating adjusted working revenue to be down on the 2021-22 determine of £1.4bn.
The group mentioned it continued to come across vital price pressures however inflation had grow to be much less risky and a few commodity prices had declined extra lately.
It mentioned of the efficiency at Primark: “To date, Primark trading has been good in all our markets and was ahead of expectation.
“Early buying and selling on this new calendar 12 months has been encouraging however macro-economic headwinds stay and should weigh on shopper spending within the months forward.”
Source: information.sky.com”