LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Speaking at the Annual General Meeting of Associated British Foods plc (ASBFY.PK, ABF.L), the Chairman Michael McLintock said the Group still expects adjusted earnings per share for the financial year to be in line with the 2018 financial year. He reiterated the Group outlook statement for the current financial year that was included in the annual report.
Chairman Michael McLintock said: 'At this early stage in our new financial year, sales and profit for the first 8 weeks of trading for the group were in line with expectations. However, during November Primark trading was challenging, in a tough retail market, but with careful inventory management and improved margins, our expectation for the increase in Primark profit is unchanged.'
Primark's selling space expansion will continue and the Group expects an increase in retail profit for the year. In Grocery, the Group expects an improvement in profit from a margin increase in its Australian and UK businesses and a full year contribution from Acetum. The profit at AB Sugar will be significantly lower reflecting the full year effect of EU sugar prices.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX