Penneys owner Primark almost doubled profits to €1.4 billion last year despite a continued decline in sales at its network of Irish stores.
New financial filings show sales at Penneys’ 38 stores in the Republic of Ireland fell for the second year in a row, from €741.7 million to €729.6 million, in the year that ended September 2025.
The company’s directors linked the decline to “unseasonably warm weather” in autumn 2025 and ongoing increases in the cost of living, which have reduced customers’ disposable income.
The Irish stores account for only a fraction of the group revenues generated by Primark Limited, which also records sales from intercompany supplies of inventory to stores outside Ireland and franchise income.
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The latest financial results showed group revenues at Primark Limited rose marginally from €4.1 billion to €4.2 billion, but pretax profits increased from €881.5 million to €1.4 billion. After tax, the company recorded a profit of close to €1.3 billion.
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Some €2.2 billion of the revenue was generated from intercompany supplies of inventory, with a further €1.3 billion from Primark Way franchise income.
The surge in profits was linked to intercompany dividends received by Primark Limited from subsidiaries of €560 million, the company said in a statement.
The dividend was linked to “Primark’s positive performance across European markets,” a spokeswoman said.
“While it was awarded within this financial year, this is a cumulative dividend based on a number of years, so going forwards, it will be much lower,” she added.
The results showed Primark has distributed €1.1 billion of dividends to its parent firm Associated British Foods (ABF) since it received the payouts from European operations, which included a €450 million dividend paid in December 2025.
Primark announced plans five years ago to invest €250 million in its network of Penneys stores across 10 years. The company has so far invested a combined €13.5 million on refurbishments to its stores on O’Connell Street in Dublin, O’Connell Street in Limerick and in Killarney.
It has also put money into refits and extensions to stores in Laois and Ennis, with plans being devised to refurbish and extend Cork Patrick’s Street outlet following planning approval. A further €75 million has been set aside to develop a distribution centre in Newbridge, Co Kildare, scheduled to open later this year.
“Overall, FY24/25 was a year of continued growth for Primark through sustained investment in expanding and renovating our store estate, and improving our customer offering in Ireland, Europe and the US,” the spokeswoman said.
She added the company also announced its first franchise partnership with the Alshaya group in the Middle East to expand into the region.
The partnership opened its first store in The Avenues in Kuwait in October 2025, with plans to open further stores in locations in Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates and City Centre Mirdif in Dubai this year.
In addition to its network of 38 stores in the Republic, Primark has 10 locations in Northern Ireland. It has a total of 495 stores across 19 markets globally, which have more than 80,000 staff.
The Irish operation employed an average of 7,053 staff on a weekly basis last year, with 3,255 of them in full-time employment and 3,741 employed part-time. Total staff costs in the year fell from €319 million to €305 million.
In April, ABF confirmed its plans to demerge Penneys and Primark from its food businesses, which would break up its conglomerate structure after 65 years and pave the way for the fashion chain to list on the FTSE 100.
Earlier this month, ABF said it remained on track to complete the demerger before the end of the 2027 calendar year.
