Sugar and Retail Drive ABF to Record Profits
Driven by strong results from its sugar and retail divisions, Associated British Foods has reported a 17% rise in adjusted operating profit to exceed the one billion pound mark for the first time at £1.08 billion on revenue up by 11% to £12.3 billion for the year ended September 15 2012. Profit before tax was level at £761 million.
AB Sugar exceeded last year’s record profit following the investment made in recent years. The business benefited from an excellent UK campaign, a strong European commercial market and better sugar yields across southern Africa. In retail, Primark’s rate of growth increased this year with sales of £3.5 billion, more than double those of five years ago.
However, continued pressure on consumer spending and the high costs for a number of commodities led to lower profitability in both ABF’s grocery and ingredient business segments.
George Weston, chief executive of Associated British Foods, comments: “These are very good results for the group and include exceptional performances from AB Sugar and Primark. Global economic uncertainty remains but we have opportunities for further investment and the strength of the group balance sheet and a strong cash flow will enable us to pursue them with confidence.”
