ABF Associated British Foods Plc

By Matteo Castia

--Associated British Foods said third-quarter revenue jumped on the back of strong retail sales

--Primark's sales in the period more than trebled to GBP1.61 billion

--However, full-year adjusted EPS is expected to be below the previous year's level

Associated British Foods PLC said Thursday that revenue in the third quarter of fiscal 2021 increased significantly, driven by store reopenings at its Primark retail business, but that it still expects full-year adjusted earnings per share to fall.

The British conglomerate said revenue in the 16 weeks ended June 19 rose 47% year-on-year to 3.65 billion pounds ($5.05 billion). This was driven by more-than-trebled Primark sales in the period amid the reopening of stores in the U.K.

On a like-for-like basis, third-quarter sales at Primark were 3% above the same period two years earlier.

"Sales in the reopened stores were ahead of expectation in all markets, a number of new sales records were set and the like-for-like performance was much improved on earlier periods during this pandemic reflecting an increase in both confidence and willingness to spend by our customers," AB Foods said.

On a 40-week basis, the company's revenue was down 2% on the year to GBP9.96 billion.

The FTSE 100 company said it expects full-year adjusted operating profit to rise at its sugar business and to fall at its grocery division. Meanwhile, Primark's full-year sales and adjusted operating profit are forecast to be in line with the prior year, it said.

"We expect these improvements in our outlook to result in adjusted earnings per share for the group reaching a level below last year, only reflecting the charge for repayment of the job retention scheme monies and the higher year-on-year adjusted effective tax rate," AB Foods said.

Write to Matteo Castia at matteo.castia@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 01, 2021 03:03 ET (07:03 GMT)

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