Associated British Foods (LON: ABF), the owner of Primark and British Sugar, saw its shares fall over 10% in early trade today despite raising its adjusted earnings guidance. The company’s trading statement, released this morning, also confirmed Primark will launch home delivery across Great Britain from a new automated fulfilment site in Sheffield.
The stock dropped from yesterday’s close of 2,020p to an intraday low of 1,797.5p, close to its 52-week low of 1,710.35p and well below its 52-week high of 2,286.61p.
The fall came not from the earnings upgrade but from the Sugar division, where adjusted operating profit, which strips out one-off items, is now guided towards the top of its £25m-£60m loss range for this financial year, before widening sharply to a loss of £70m-£170m in 2027. Chief executive George Weston said the negative outlook reflects several factors, though he added that “the recent positive turn in European and global sugar pricing should benefit future years.”
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Primark’s own numbers added to the pressure. Continental European like-for-like sales fell around 4.3% in the fourth quarter, dragging group like-for-like sales down 2.6% for the year, even as the UK held broadly flat and the US grew like-for-like sales by around 11%. Weston acknowledged the regional weakness directly, saying “trading in continental Europe remained challenging, where actions to strengthen our customer proposition are at an earlier stage.”
Against that backdrop, the home delivery launch, part of Primark’s digital build-out ahead of its planned demerger from ABF’s food businesses in December 2027, was read by the market as a secondary story. Broker Jefferies called it a “muted end to the year” for Primark, keeping a 1,650p price target on ABF and flagging pressure on 2027 consensus forecasts from the weaker Sugar outlook.
