Associated British Foods plc (LON:ABF) has issued an update in the light of increasing restrictions on the movement of people and trading activity being put in place by governments to restrict the spread of COVID-19 in many of the markets where Primark trades.
As of today, all Primark stores in the Republic of Ireland, France, Belgium, Wales, Catalonia in Spain and Slovenia are temporarily closed, which represent 19% of our total retail selling space. The announced period of closure varies by market. The UK Government announced its intention to close non-essential shops in England for one month from 5 November to 2 December. Assuming that this will be passed by the UK Parliament on 4 November, 57% of our total selling space will be temporarily closed from 5 November.
Our estimated loss of sales for these stores, including the stores in England, for the announced periods of closure is £375m.
Trading hours are also restricted in a number of other markets. Uncertainty about further temporary store closures in the short-term remains.
We are implementing the operational plans developed to manage the consequences of these closures and appropriate action will be taken to reduce operating costs. All orders placed with our suppliers will be honoured.
At the year end the group had net cash before lease liabilities of £1,558m. Excluding debt, the group had gross cash before lease liabilities of £2,030m which, together with £1,088m of undrawn committed Revolving Credit Facilities provide £3,118m of group liquidity.
Associated British Foods Annual Results Announcement for the year ended 12 September 2020 will be released as planned tomorrow, 3 November and there will be an analyst and investor presentation at 09.00am GMT which will be streamed online and accessed via our website.
