Primark has designs on New England with US opening

In the year to September 13, sales in ABF’s retail business are expected to be 17pc ahead of last year at constant currencies, and up 16pc at actual exchange rates, as the division performed strongly and continued to add new stores over the year, opening up 1.4m sq ft of selling space.

The company said the operating profit margin of 13.1pc in the first half was higher than last year, "reflecting the benefit of warehouse and distribution efficiencies and lower freight rates". ABF said these benefits had continued in the second half and, with the strong trading over the summer resulting in a low level of markdowns, the business expects the full-year margin to be slightly higher.

“Good like-for-like sales growth was driven by highly successful autumn/winter and spring/summer ranges,” ABF said in the statement. “Sales over the Christmas period were excellent and were boosted in the third quarter by warm weather, especially in the spring and early summer, which led to good trading across the group and outstanding results in Spain. Early sales of the new autumn/winter range are encouraging.”

The strong performance by Primark helped ABF, which is 55pc owned by the low-profile Weston family, maintain its annual earnings guidance despite continuing weakness in the group’s sugar operations caused by weaker prices and lower demand for sweeteners.

ABF said it expected adjusted earnings per share for the 2013-14 year to be ahead of the 98.9p made in 2012-13.

The company said its ingredients unit also saw an improvement, and this combined with Primark’s trading would offset the £50m hit caused by a strong pound.

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