Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Primark shares soar on back of US plans

Primark shares soar on back of US plans

Plans for Primark’s entry into the US market following more strong trading in Europe triggered a big rise for shares in owner Associated British Foods yesterday.

The FTSE 100 listed conglomerate, whose operations cover sugar, agriculture, retail, grocery and ingredients, was the stand-out performer in an otherwise lacklustre session for the London market.

The top flight was 11.2 points lower at 6,670.5 as weak manufacturing data in China proved a major obstacle to further gains after Tuesday’s euphoria over a flurry of major deals in the pharmaceuticals sector helped to add 56 points.

Yesterday’s decline came despite more encouraging signs from the eurozone after a key measure of business activity rose to its highest level in three years.

AB Foods delivered the biggest blue-chip rise of the session after Primark’s plans for a store in Boston by the end of next year were accompanied by a 26% rise in retail profits.

City analyst Darren Shirley of Shore Capital described Primark’s half-year performance as stunning.

Despite the poor record of UK firms in the US retail market, shares were 9% or 241p higher at 2,963p as AB Foods also reported a 4% rise in group profits to £468million.

Elsewhere, drugs stocks continued to improve on the back of deal-making activity by GlaxoSmithKline and speculation linking AstraZeneca to a potential takeover by US giant Pfizer. Glaxo rose 7.75p to 1,647.75p and Astra added 72p to 4031.5p, having risen by 5% yesterday.

In the FTSE 250, holiday firm Thomas Cook rose 6.3p to 179.9p after its turnaround strategy was backed in a broker upgrade from Barclays, whose analysts expect a resumption of dividends in 2016.

The biggest decline in the FTSE 250 Index came from power station business Drax after it was offered an investment contract from the government to convert just one of its two coal-fired generators to biomass fuel.

Drax shares slumped 12% or 19.35p to 663p.

The grocery division of AB Foods lifted half-year profits by 31% to £126million, as Twinings Ovaltine benefited from rising sales of tea in the United States and Jordans and Ryvita both achieved further growth.

The division’s Allied Bakeries business made progress in the highly competitive UK bread market with volumes and margins both ahead of last year.

The Kingsmill 50/50 range continued to be the main driver of growth.

The group’s progress in grocery and retail was offset by a sharp drop in profits from its sugar division following a slump in global prices ahead of the end of EU sugar quotas in 2017.

The 60% drop in profits to £64million came despite favourable growing conditions through the mild winter in the UK, which resulted in good beet quality and high sugar content.