Associated British Foods

Company intends to grow its number of stores from 13 to 60 over the next five years

Making sustainable clothing will mean either price increases or reduced profits

Parent’s share price drops as it says costs may increase but prices won’t

Oil stocks up as US government tells majors it will buy their reserves

Profits to beat expectations at Primark owner Associated British Foods

Overall gains capped by ongoing concerns over the Delta variant of coronavirus

Associated British Foods indicate sales advance over 200% year-on-year to €1.87bn

Retailer plans more stores in Central and Eastern Europe

Weston family appoint Credit Suisse to advise after unsolicited offer for group

Retailer has 36 stores waiting to reopen in the Republic and another 11 in the North

Canadian’s transatlantic empire included majority stake in company behind Penneys

Retailer had been in talks to take two floors once occupied by House of Fraser

Parent company raises its estimate of lost sales due to Covid-19 lockdowns this autumn to £430m

Iseq index witnesses huge jump as Ryanair climbs 14%

US set to vote in its most polarised presidential election in living memory

Primark’s profit plunged to £362m from £969m as pandemic measures shuttered stores

Stores in Ireland, France, Belgium, Wales, Catalonia, Slovenia are temporarily closed

Planet Business: Recapping the week ‘in a very specific and limited way’

Sterling slides on increasingly remote chance of UK-EU deal; Wall Street closed for Labor Day

Continuing Covid impact on city centre stores will mean a hit to full-year earnings

Ryanair closes higher on news that British government is to ramp up Covid testing plans

On the Iseq, Ryanair, CRH and AIB advance while Smurfit Kappa falls nearly 4%

ABF reports ‘encouraging signs’ since reopening of stores

Non-essential stores reopen for first time in 12 weeks with Primark among the busiest

Investors back belief economic downturn from Covid-19 pandemic has bottomed out

Retailer believes social distancing measures likely to affect sales only in its busiest stores

First-half operating profit rises 7% to £682m, while revenue increases 2% to £7.6bn

Retailer availing of State wage support scheme

Stores availing of State wage support scheme

Move to take two floors in centre paused as fashion chain reviews spending plans

Retailer is losing net sales of €700m a month during crisis

Markets report: Wall Street slide deepens as more US states go into lockdown

Primark stops placing new orders for clothes as store closures cost it €705m a month in lost sales

Shares rally late in day in Dublin but Flutter, AIB, Bank of Ireland, Ryanair among fallers

AB Foods notes that Chinese factories have reopened

Ryanair suffers biggest one-day fall in several years, closing 13% down on fears the coronavirus could seriously hit European travel

Company says it imports approximately 45% of total clothing supplies from China

Unite staff at Allied Bakeries in Belfast are pursuing 5% pay claim

Markets report: C&C falls 4.5 per cent after it announces departure of chief executive

Like-for-like growth in US and euro zone offset Primark slippage in UK