Primark owner Associated British Foods has announced half-year pre-tax profits up 4% to £466m.

Primark’s expansion into the US is “well-advanced”, with the Dublin-headquartered discount clothing retailer set to open its first store there this year.

Dublin-headquartered discount clothing retailer Primark contributed almost half of parent group Associated British Foods’ total annual sales in the 12 months to mid-September.

Discount fashion chain Primark has grown profits by another 29% after a “magnificent” year in which its sales jumped to almost £5bn.

Dublin-headquartered discount retailer Primark, which trades here as Penneys, has reported a 22% year-on-year surge in annual revenue, to just under £4.3bn (€5.1bn), a performance described as “remarkable and outstanding” by its British parent.

Primark today reported an "outstanding" performance for the past year, with operating profits up 35%, but its owner warned that future margins will be squeezed by the soaring costs of cotton and transport.

TESCO saw sales in Ireland drop 7.5% to €2.9 billion in the year to the end of February as it took a hit of almost €38 million following price and supplier changes.

A FIRST-class performance by Primark, which trades as Penneys in Ireland, sent operating profits in the six months to the end of February jumping 10% to £122 million (e138m).

HIGH Street retailer Penneys is considering expansion following an excellent trading year.

The founding family of British cereals firm Jordans has sold a stake in the business to Kingsmill owner Associated British Foods, it emerged today.

Fashion retailer Primark picked up 120 Littlewoods stores today in a £409m (€594m) deal for some of the UK’s most prominent high street sites.

BROWN THOMAS owner Galen Weston’s $1 billion bid for Selfridges Plc, a luxury-goods retailer that competes with Harrods, may cost Canada’s second-richest man as little as $5 million of his own money.

THE multi-millionaire owner of department store Brown Thomas, Galen Weston, is expected to announce an agreed offer of about £3.70 per share (€2.38) for the Selfridges group.