ABF to double retail space

Associated British Foods, the owner of the discount retail chain Primark, has said that it plans to double the amount of retail space it kept from its acquisition of Littlwoods stores. The company announced these plans as sales growth at Primark helped alleviate a drop of profits in its sugar business - ABF makes Ovaltine and Silver Spoon sugar.

The company said that it expected Primark to achieve a like-for-like sales growth of about 12 percent in the second half. This would bring the growth average for the year to 9 percent. ABF announced that Primark would operate from 1.15 million sq ft of retail space that it obtained through the take over of Littlewood, as opposed to the 800,000 sq ft that it initially had planned to use.