Ian Pollard: ABF – Primark Faces 2% Like For Like Decline

Associated British Foods ABF expects a small reduction in adjusted operating profit as it enters the close period for its interim results for the 24 weeks to 2 March 2019. Despite this, sales growth is expected from all the businesses with the exception of Sugar but this is obviously not the ABF of old. For […]

Ian Pollard – Singles Day at Primark

Alibaba invented Singles Day as a shopping celebration for the unattached as opposed to the romanticism of Valentines Day. It is now the world’s biggest online sales event, exceeding the combined totals of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Yesterday saw sales hit a record $1bn in 85 seconds and the total spend for the day […]

Ian Pollard – Housebuilders In Cloud Cuckoo Land

Bovis Homes BVG delivered a total of 1,580 completions in the half year to the 3oth June, slightly ahead of  expectations and an increase of 4% on the previous year. Average selling prices for private houses only managed by a whisker to avoid falling into negative territory at £335,000 compared to last years £334,700. The […]

Ian Pollard – Primark Like For Like Sales Drop

Associated British Foods ABF warns that for the first half so far like for like sales at Primark have gone into decline with a 1% fall. This is despite a strong performance in the UK with produced a 4% rise in like for like sales and an 8% overall sales rise which was helped by […]

Is Primark Ex Growth ?

Associated British Foods ABF freely admits that it has been a major beneficiary of sterling weakness over the 40 weeks to the 24th June. Group revenue during the period  grew at constant currency rates by 10% but on an actual exchange rate basis it was double that at 20%. Third quarter underlying operating performance was […]

Weak Sterling Continues to Hit Primark

Associated British Foods ABF expects excellent progress in adjusted operating profit and earnings per share for the half year to the 4th March. Primark sales are expected to be11% ahead at constant currency rates and 21% ahead at actual exchange rates but on a like for like basis UK Primark sales will show growth of […]

Primark Sales Fall as UK Weather Bites

Associated British Foods ABF Whoever would have thought that ABF would be reduced to the state where it has to blame poor sales at Primark on unseasonable UK weather. First Christmas was too hot and then March and April were too cold, it bleats. It has also joined that raft of companies which has now […]

Has Primark Gone ex Growth ?

Associated British Foods, ABF, owners of Primark have been reduced to claiming that Primark has been impacted by currency rates.  Amazing how when things start to go wrong currency rates is the directors first choice as to where to lay the blame. The fact that in the previous years of heady growth, currency rates never […]