Associated British Foods posted a 5 per cent rise in half-year profits today amid growth of its Primark fashion clothes stores and its sugar business.
The food and retailing group plans four more Primark low-cost stores in Spain in the next 12 months as it reiterated it had no plan to float off the retailer.
Primark's stores make nearly 40 per cent of group profits and are coming to the end of a big expansion phase after the purchase and refit of a number of Littlewoods stores, with first-half sales rising 36 per cent and profits 28 per cent.
The group reported adjusted pretax profit of £268 million for the 24 weeks to March 3rd, near the top of a forecast range of £258-270 million.
Chief executive George Weston reiterated profit growth this year will be weighed to the second half as big investments in Primark and the purchase of its 51-per cent stake in Africa's biggest cane sugar producer, Illovo, last September, start to bear fruit.
Primark's like-for-like sales were level with last year, held back by cannibalisation from new stores opening close to older ones. Stripping out this effect, the rise was 6 per cent, up from the 4 per cent estimated rise at its February update.