Associated British Foods plc results for the 24 weeks ended 5 March 2022
Group sales and profit return to pre-COVID levels
Financial Headlines
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Actual currency change |
Constant currency change |
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Group revenue |
£7,882m |
+25% |
+28% |
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Adjusted operating profit |
£706m |
+91% |
+92% |
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Adjusted profit before tax |
£666m |
+109% |
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Adjusted earnings per share |
63.8p |
+154% |
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Dividend per share |
13.8p |
+123% |
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Gross investment |
£450m |
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Net cash before lease liabilities |
£1,476m |
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Net debt including lease liabilities |
£1,665m |
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Statutory operating profit |
£686m |
+114% |
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Statutory profit before tax |
£635m |
+131% |
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Basic earnings per share |
60.3p |
+194% |
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Statutory operating profit is stated after exceptional charges and other items shown on the face of the condensed consolidated income statement. There was a £25m exceptional charge in the prior half year.
Food: resilient operational performance
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Sales up 6% to £4,342m; adjusted operating profit down 9% to £330m |
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Cost reduction and pricing action taken but lag in recovery of cost inflation |
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High input cost inflation, logistics challenges, COVID-related labour absences |
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Sugar sales and profit well ahead |
Primark: strong recovery in sales and margin
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Sales up 59% to £3,540m; adjusted operating profit margin 11.7% |
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UK/Ireland: strong sales recovery with increased holiday travel and socialising |
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Continental Europe: consumer footfall remained weak |
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US: trading well |
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Transforming digital capability; launch of new website |
Dividend
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Interim dividend of 13.8p per share (2021: 6.2p) |
George Weston, Chief Executive of Associated British Foods, said:
“This half year sales and operating profit for the Group returned to pre-COVID levels. Our people have responded well to the many challenges we faced.
Our food businesses have once again proved their operational resilience and Sugar had another strong period, building on its recent track record of recovery. Measures to mitigate higher costs in all our businesses have been taken and more are planned. Primark delivered a significant increase in sales and profit, with stores now open and trading largely free of restrictions.
Looking further ahead, inflationary pressures are such that we are unable to offset them all with cost savings, and so Primark will implement selective price increases across some of the autumn/winter stock. However, we are committed to ensuring our price leadership and everyday affordability, especially in this environment of greater economic uncertainty.
Notwithstanding the inflationary pressures we are experiencing, our outlook for the year is for significant progress in adjusted operating profit and adjusted earnings per share for the Group.”
The Group has defined and outlined the purpose of its Alternative performance measures in note 13. These measures are used within the Financial Headlines and in this Interim Results Announcement.