Top story
Group revenues at Associated British Foods have increased 32% to £4bn as all Primark stores reopened following the ending of lockdown restrictions and it took price action to recover input cost inflation in its grocery and ingredients divisions.
ABF said profits were also in line with expectations in the third quarter to 28 May.
Sales in the group’s food businesses rose 10% to £2.3bn in the period.
The grocery arm, which includes the likes of Twinings, Ovaltine, Patak’s, Kingsmill and Jordans, rose 4% in the period to £932m, while its sugar business increased sales 7% to £457m, ingredients was up 24% to £489m and agriculture increased 10% to £441m.
ABF said the grocery business benefitted from price increases implemented earlier this year and further pricing action underway. It added that it also expected to recover the margin run rate for the division in the next financial year.
Primark sales jumped 81% to £1.7bn compared with the same period a year ago when the majority of its stores were closed until mid-April. Sales were 4% higher than the comparable pre-Covid period three years ago.
The retailer also announced the UK launch of a trial click & collect service on a expanded range of children’s products at 25 stores in the North West of England later this year.
ABF said it believed the trial had “the potential to satisfy unfulfilled demand, driving footfall from both existing and new customers to deliver incremental sales in store”.
Shares in ABF rose 0.8% to 1,621.5p as markets opened this morning.
Morning update
Deliveroo has appointed Scilla Grimble as chief financial officer to replace Adam Miller, who is leaving the group in September.
Grimble is currently CFO at MoneySupermarkert.com and is expected to join Deliveroo by no later than June 2023.
She was previously interim CFO at Marks & Spencer, where she was also group finance officer, and she has held a range of senior finance and leadership roles at Tesco.
Previously, Grimble spent ten years at UBS, where she was managing director and head of consumer & retail investment banking EMEA, and she began her career at PwC, where she qualified as a chartered accountant. She is also currently a non-executive director at Taylor Wimpey.
Deliveroo also appointed David Hancock, who is currently vice president of investor relations, to serve as interim CFO from 17 September until Grimble joins the business.
Chairman Claudia Arney said: “I am delighted to welcome Scilla to Deliveroo and the board is confident that her highly relevant skills and experience will help us to take advantage of the significant opportunities before us and will be invaluable as we continue to build our business.
“The board thanks Adam for all he has done for Deliveroo during his time here, from helping guide the business as VP of strategy to taking on the interim CFO role at a critical time, and then as CFO helping us through Covid and navigating the IPO. Adam has shown immense commitment and dedication to making Deliveroo successful. We are grateful and pleased that Adam will be remaining in role until mid-September to ensure a smooth transition and wish him all the best for the future.”
Grimble added: “I am delighted to be joining Will and the team at Deliveroo. It’s an exciting opportunity to help build the definitive online food company and I look forward to working with the team as they drive the business forward to profitability.”
An update from desserts retailer Cake Box said its expected to report results for the 52 weeks ended 31 March in line with market expectations.
The short statement added that during the end-of-year audit process, the board became aware of an issue concerning technical compliance with the Companies Act 2006 in relation to past dividend payments.
“Although there were sufficient distributable reserves and cash held in the group which could have been distributed, dividends were declared at a time when the group’s holding company itself, Cake Box Holdings plc, did not hold adequate distributable reserves by reference to its last set of annual accounts,” the statement said.
The group’s historic reported trading results and financial condition were “entirely unaffected”, it added.
Cake Box will report its annual results on 27 June.
The FTSE 100 opened in positive territory this morning, up 0.3% to 7,036.24pts.
Early risers included McBride, up 4.9% to 20.9p, Glanbia, up 4.7% to €10.53, and B&M European Value Retail, up 3% to 388.5p.
Deliveroo shares sank 7.8% to 79.8p following the new CFO announcment.
Other fallers included Virgin Wines UK, down 3.4% to 100.5p, PayPoint, down 1.9% to 588.7p, and C&C Group, down 1% to 193p.
This week in the City
Newsflow speeds up this week, with lots going on affecting the world of fmcg.
Tomorrow brings the latest Kantar grocery sales figures and market share data, while packaging giant DS Smith reports full-year results and Coke bottler Coca-Cola HBC holds its AGM.
Wednesday will see the latest gloomy inflation rate released by the ONS.
Naked Wines reports its annual results on Thursday.
And, to close the week, the closely-watched monthly consumer confidence index from GfK and the latest retail sales figures for May from the ONS are announced on Friday.
No comments yet