Primark: Unseasonably warm Autumn weather expected to have hit sales

Parent company says sales at discount retailer likely to have fallen by 1 per cent in the 24 weeks to 3 March, particularly because of weather in October.

Primark said early trading of the spring and summer range had been encouraging (Getty)

Unseasonably warm weather at the end of last year is likely to have dented the financial performance of Primark, parent company Associated British Foods (ABF) said on Monday.

The conglomerate said that like-for-like sales at the discount retailer are likely to have fallen by 1 per cent in the 24 weeks to 3 March this year, particularly because of the weather in October.

Nonetheless, the group said that like-for-like sales for the 16 weeks to 3 March are expected to show growth of 1 per cent, driven by Primark achieving record sales in the week before Christmas.

The company said that early trading of the new spring and summer range had been encouraging too.

Compared to many of its high street competitors, Primark has generally proved effective at combatting rising inflation and a slide in consumer sentiment in the wake of June 2016’s Brexit vote.

Elsewhere across the business, ABF said that it expects adjusted operating profit to be in line with that for the same period last year. It said that lower expenses and a reduced tax rate would likely lead to higher earnings per share.

As previously flagged, the company said that revenue and profit at its sugar division would be lower in the half-year to March than it was a year ago, driven by a move from the EU to scrap sugar sales quotas and export caps.