What you need to know before the open April 23, 2014 US markets saw another positive finish yesterday, with European counterparts expected higher today, looking to French and German manufacturing data. Economists will be looking to see if the turnaround seen in France in March continued, and Germany’s expected to see a slight improvement, too. China’s HSBC manufacturing purchasing managers’ index improved to 48.3 – encouraging, [...]
Primark buoys AB Foods as sugar continues to sour performance April 23, 2014 Shares in Primark owner Associated British Foods are up over six per cent this morning, after the group announced a six per cent rise in pre-tax profit to £434m in the first half of the financial year, and a 26 per cent jump in Primark's profit. The group called the results “resilient”, despite facing ongoing challenges [...]
Primark to open stores in northeast US April 23, 2014 Primark is set to make its first foray in the US, opening stores in the north east, owner Associated British Foods has announced this morning. After “extensive research”, the decision’s been made to take the budget high street shop to consumers in the US, AB Foods said. A new store with 70,000 square feet of selling [...]
Primark to lift profit at AB Foods April 21, 2014 ASSOCIATED British Foods’ (ABF) booming high street chain Primark is expected to reveal a 21 per cent jump in first half operating profits this week, helping to offset falling profits at its troubled sugar business. The FTSE 100 owner Twinings tea and Kingsmill bread, which will report its half year results tomorrow, guided in February [...]
LondonMetric signs Primark pre-let April 1, 2014 Property developer LondonMetric has signed a deal to build a huge distribution centre in Northamptonshire for a “top 25 retailer” understood to be Primark. The warehouse on the A16 in Islip will span 1.06m square feet – the size of around 38 football pitches – and has been pre-let to Primark on a 25 year [...]
Best of the Brokers for 11 March 2014 March 10, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com ASSOCIATED BRITISH FOODS UBS hails the retail and sugar group as a “buy” and raises its target from 2,890p to 3,300p. The broker thinks Primark is still at an early stage of its growth trajectory and believes the fashion business alone is worth [...]
Stellar Primark growth offsets falling sugar sales at AB Foods February 24, 2014 ASSOCIATED British Foods (ABF) said yesterday that first half profits will be in line with forecasts after a standout performance at its clothing chain Primark helped offset falling profits at its sugar business. Sales at Primark, which launched its first two stores in France in the period, were up 13 per cent, driven by new [...]
What you need to know before the open February 24, 2014 European markets are expected marginally lower this morning, following Asian counterparts, which were left unsatisfied by the G20’s commitment of an extra $2 trillion in output over the next five years. The UK market posted its third successive gain last week, but things in the rest of Europe and the US weren’t as positive, following [...]
Primark sweetens outlook for AB Foods as sugar disappoints February 24, 2014 Associated British Foods has reported that it expects operating profits for the first half of the year to be in line with that of the previous year. The company expects low profits from sugar to be offset by a stella performance from Primark. Primark enjoyed strong sales in the first half and they are expected [...]
Fortnum & Mason owners take home windfall £91m dividend February 10, 2014 THE CANADIAN owners of Fortnum & Mason and Associated British Foods took home £91m in dividends last year after a strong performance across its investments. Accounts filed recently on Companies House reveal that Wittington Investments, one of the main investment vehicles of the Weston Family, paid out £53m in the year to 14 September compared [...]