Sales and profits grow at ABF
1 min read
Beet sugar to high street fashion group Associated British Foods (ABF) today (22 February) forecast strong increases in sales and profits for its half year results to the end of February. They will show a strong increase in revenue with growth achieved in all segments, the group announced in a trading statement.
Operating profit would "be substantially higher than in the corresponding period last year in all segments except agriculture, where trading last year benefited from unusually high volatility in commodity prices," it said.
Profit from sugar will be substantially ahead of last year driven by "an excellent performance in Europe and a welcome recovery in China".
In agriculture, "UK feed revenues will be ahead in all sectors except sugar beet feed which has been affected by lower prices."
Grocery profits in the first half "will be well ahead of last year, despite a charge of £19 million for the manufacturing reorganisation at Twinings" (ABF has announced the planned closure of its Newcastle site, moving production of UK manufacturing to its Andover site where a further 129 jobs may go as operations are extended in China and Poland).
The yeast and bakery ingredients business "has traded well with a strong sales performance from yeast in Latin America and from technical ingredients across the Americas as a whole".
Trading at ABF's high street fashion stores, Primark, "has been strong and over Christmas was ahead of our expectations."
