{"id":163597,"date":"2020-12-04T09:16:21","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T09:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/"},"modified":"2021-08-06T12:09:24","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T12:09:24","slug":"primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/","title":{"rendered":"Primark owner takes \u00a3430m hit from lockdown closures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Primark owner Associated British Foods (ABF) has revealed that the second national lockdown in England, along with regional lockdowns and restrictions, <strong>has hit sales to the tune of \u00a3430m<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 higher than previously expected.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>But the company said it has recovered some of the costs, with<strong> overheads falling 25% during the autumn lockdowns,<\/strong> and early signs that reopened stores are seeing strong sales.<\/p>\n<p>Customers at Primark, which reopened in England on Wednesday, have been eager to buy clothes again and <strong>long queues have formed at some branches.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To maximise sales and spread out customer numbers, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/theindustry-fashion-live-primark-experiments-with-24-hour-store-opening\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">some sites have continued trading through the night,<\/a> while others have extended opening hours.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"TheIndustry.fashion Live: Primark opens for 24-hours\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NomkJEOvZss?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>ABF said <strong>34 stores remain temporarily closed<\/strong>, including all outlets in Northern Ireland and Austria, representing 7% of Primark\u2019s total retail selling space.<\/p>\n<p>This compares with 62% when the highest number of stores were closed in November.<strong> Last month bosses had predicted sales would be hit by \u00a3375m.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Stores in the Republic of Ireland, France and Belgium reopened in the past week.<\/p>\n<p>The company\u2019s chairman, Michael McLintock, said: \u201cSales in the days since reopening in each of these markets have once again been very strong, <strong>reflecting the excitement and appeal of the Primark offering.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have extended the opening hours during this festive season in most of our stores in the Republic of Ireland and England to cater for the anticipated higher customer demand and to help ensure a safer environment by spreading shopping hours over a longer period.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His comments, due to be made at the company\u2019s annual shareholder meeting, also included an update on post-Brexit transition plans, saying preparations are complete.<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201cFollowing the UK\u2019s exit from the EU,<strong> our businesses have completed all practical preparations for the end of the transition period this month<\/strong> and contingency plans are in place should our businesses experience some disruption at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since the start of this financial year, new stores have been opened in the US \u2013 in New Jersey and Florida \u2013 with \u201cencouraging\u201d performance from its remaining sites.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Strong sales were also seen in the company\u2019s first store in Rome in Italy,<\/strong> and a fifth site was opened in Barcelona, Spain.<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201cNotwithstanding the currently announced periods of restriction,<strong> we continue to expect Primark sales and profit to be higher this financial year compared to last.<\/strong> We will continue to expand retail selling space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>ABF also owns a number of grocery brands, a sugar business and agriculture division, which have performed well.<\/p>\n<p>However, the company said its forecast for UK sugar production for 2020\/21 is now 0.9 million tonnes \u2013 lower than previously expected.<\/p>\n<p>This is down from 1.19 million tonnes, due to the severe impact of virus yellows disease on sugar beet, it added, although profits are likely to remain strong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":155215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10585,6,10494],"tags":[15204,13696,10411],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Primark owner takes \u00a3430m hit from lockdown closures - TheIndustry.fashion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Primark owner Associated British Foods (ABF) has revealed that the second national lockdown in England, along with regional lockdowns and restrictions,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Primark owner takes \u00a3430m hit from lockdown closures - TheIndustry.fashion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Primark owner Associated British Foods (ABF) has revealed that the second national lockdown in England, along with regional lockdowns and restrictions,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TheIndustry.fashion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theindustryfashion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-04T09:16:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-06T12:09:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/w6-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"TheIndustry.fashion\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@theindustryfash\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@theindustryfash\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"TheIndustry.fashion\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"TheIndustry.fashion\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/person\/1e694ebd9d1ca2c1b0b08c13d8160c35\"},\"headline\":\"Primark owner takes \u00a3430m hit from lockdown closures\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-04T09:16:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-06T12:09:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/\"},\"wordCount\":472,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Associated British Foods\",\"Michael McLintock\",\"Primark\"],\"articleSection\":{\"1\":\"Finance\",\"3\":\"News &amp; Insight\",\"4\":\"Retail &amp; Etail\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2020\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/\",\"name\":\"Primark owner takes \u00a3430m hit from lockdown closures - TheIndustry.fashion\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-04T09:16:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-06T12:09:24+00:00\",\"description\":\"Primark owner Associated British Foods (ABF) has revealed that the second national lockdown in England, along with regional lockdowns and restrictions,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Primark owner takes \u00a3430m hit from lockdown closures\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/\",\"name\":\"TheIndustry.fashion\",\"description\":\"Fashion news, insights, podcasts and events for professionals from across the fashion sector.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#organization\",\"name\":\"TheIndustry.fashion\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/LOGO.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/LOGO.png\",\"width\":585,\"height\":217,\"caption\":\"TheIndustry.fashion\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theindustryfashion\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/theindustryfash\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/theindustryfashion\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/10970016\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/person\/1e694ebd9d1ca2c1b0b08c13d8160c35\",\"name\":\"TheIndustry.fashion\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a4a921d975273dd89abbaa67292bf147?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a4a921d975273dd89abbaa67292bf147?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"TheIndustry.fashion\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Primark owner takes \u00a3430m hit from lockdown closures - TheIndustry.fashion","description":"Primark owner Associated British Foods (ABF) has revealed that the second national lockdown in England, along with regional lockdowns and restrictions,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Primark owner takes \u00a3430m hit from lockdown closures - TheIndustry.fashion","og_description":"Primark owner Associated British Foods (ABF) has revealed that the second national lockdown in England, along with regional lockdowns and restrictions,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/","og_site_name":"TheIndustry.fashion","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theindustryfashion\/","article_published_time":"2020-12-04T09:16:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-08-06T12:09:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/w6-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"TheIndustry.fashion","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@theindustryfash","twitter_site":"@theindustryfash","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"TheIndustry.fashion","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/"},"author":{"name":"TheIndustry.fashion","@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/person\/1e694ebd9d1ca2c1b0b08c13d8160c35"},"headline":"Primark owner takes \u00a3430m hit from lockdown closures","datePublished":"2020-12-04T09:16:21+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-06T12:09:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/"},"wordCount":472,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#organization"},"keywords":["Associated British Foods","Michael McLintock","Primark"],"articleSection":{"1":"Finance","3":"News &amp; Insight","4":"Retail &amp; Etail"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2020","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/","name":"Primark owner takes \u00a3430m hit from lockdown closures - TheIndustry.fashion","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-12-04T09:16:21+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-06T12:09:24+00:00","description":"Primark owner Associated British Foods (ABF) has revealed that the second national lockdown in England, along with regional lockdowns and restrictions,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/primark-owner-takes-430m-hit-from-lockdown-closures\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Primark owner takes \u00a3430m hit from lockdown closures"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/","name":"TheIndustry.fashion","description":"Fashion news, insights, podcasts and events for professionals from across the fashion sector.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#organization","name":"TheIndustry.fashion","url":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/LOGO.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/LOGO.png","width":585,"height":217,"caption":"TheIndustry.fashion"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theindustryfashion\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/theindustryfash","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/theindustryfashion\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/10970016\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/person\/1e694ebd9d1ca2c1b0b08c13d8160c35","name":"TheIndustry.fashion","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a4a921d975273dd89abbaa67292bf147?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a4a921d975273dd89abbaa67292bf147?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"TheIndustry.fashion"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163597"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}