AB Foods buoyed by Primark progress

Associated British Foods today said profits rose 10% after the retail-to-grocery business benefited from further strong growth at Primark.

The value fashion chain achieved annual operating profits of £200m (€287.4m) – an increase of 20% on a year earlier – after it opened 32 new stores and maintained like-for-like sales growth in a testing trading environment.

The improvement offset a poor UK showing from the company’s Kingsmill bread business, as AB Foods posted group profits of £613m (€881m) for the year to September 15.