It is probably a good thing that Associated British Foods has not yet split itself in two, liberating the go-getting and supposedly reliable Primark from the more volatile food and ingredients businesses. In standalone form, Primark would probably have suffered a bigger share price thump than the 14% fall that the still-combined conglomerate sustained after Thursday’s profits warning.
The problem at Primark is that it has suddenly become hard to know what to expect. A year ago, the stores in continental Europe seemed to be trading well while the UK ones hit a soft spot. Now the UK end is back on form, regaining some market share, while the continental stores have had a serious skid. In the 16-week peak trading period, like-for-like sales at the former were up 1.7% while the latter (meaning Europe excluding the UK and Ireland) were down 5.7%, a big decline.
AB Foods is full of explanations of how it has managed to improve the UK performance: it points to sharper marketing, especially on critical lines under a “Major Finds” initiative; and introducing click and collect at a chain that famously doesn’t do home delivery.
The open question, though, is whether the same self-help remedies will work so quickly on the continent. There are reasons to think not. For starters, the group doesn’t yet have the infrastructure in place to introduce click and collect over there, even though it plans to do so in the medium term. Then, as Panmure Liberum’s analyst points out, penetration levels are lower across many individual European markets: “The worsening like-for-like trends in Europe lead to concerns about whether it is just a reflection of the weak consumer environment or whether the proposition is losing traction.”
Quite, it is all a bit mysterious. The consumer backdrop in many large European countries is clearly weaker than in the UK. Many retailers are saying the same – France, Germany and Italy seem to have been particularly weak for Primark. But one also wonders if the buzz around the brand has faded, or if competition from online channels such as Shein, Temu and Zalando is finally having an effect.
Primark should still make £1bn of operating profit this year, think analysts, and even AB Food’s lowered forecast for operating profit margins, taking account of extra markdowns as a result of lower continental turnover, is 10%. So one shouldn’t exaggerate the scale of the problem. This is far from being a crisis. Over the long term, Primark should still have plenty of room to expand.
But the difference from previous expectations also matters. It’s only two months since AB Foods was confident it would produce growth in group profits and earnings per share in the financial year that ends in September. Now it expects to be down. Analysts translate that as meaning the difference between being up 4%-5% and down by a similar degree. It is a chunky adjustment. The mood wasn’t helped by “mixed” trading on the food front, or by the regulatory investigation into the proposed purchase of Hovis, or by the description of the US retail environment as “volatile”. But the continental news on Primark was clearly the main market-moving element: the once-purring retail machine has developed a splutter.
In theory, that should make no difference to the thinking on corporate separation. AB Foods has always kept its eye on far horizons and in any case, the billionaire Weston family, the majority owner, would retain the same status in both businesses if a split happens. In practice, it might be best to avoid distractions for a year or two. Demergers work best when there is obviously value to unlock.
