{"id":172693,"date":"2025-11-10T06:51:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T06:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/172693\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T06:51:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T06:51:08","slug":"could-a-long-awaited-spin-off-finally-pay-off-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/172693\/","title":{"rendered":"Could a long-awaited spin-off finally pay off? \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/associated-british-foods\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/associated-british-foods\/\">Associated British Foods<\/a> (ABF) says it may finally do what it has long resisted: spin off <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/penneys\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/penneys\/\">Penneys<\/a>\/<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/primark\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/primark\/\">Primark<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The fashion chain has long been the jewel in the UK conglomerate\u2019s crown, yet for decades it has been shackled to a sprawling group of groceries, ingredients and commodities that investors struggle to value. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Many analysts suggest ABF, which is valued at \u00a316 billion (\u20ac18.2 billion), suffers from a so-called conglomerate discount: the market\u2019s tendency to reward corporate focus more than breadth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">ABF has flirted with a separation before but was rebuffed by Primark founder Arthur Ryan, who preferred to stay out of the spotlight. ABF revisited the idea in 2009, after Ryan retired, and again in 2019, but shifting market conditions saw the idea shelved once more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Even now, the timing is far from perfect, with fast-fashion rivals like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/shein\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/shein\/\">Shein<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/temu\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/temu\/\">Temu<\/a> eroding Primark\u2019s edge. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Still, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2025\/11\/08\/penneys-owners-plan-to-split-fashion-from-food-fails-to-excite-investing-front-row\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2025\/11\/08\/penneys-owners-plan-to-split-fashion-from-food-fails-to-excite-investing-front-row\/\">investors\u2019 underwhelming reaction<\/a> \u2013 shares dipped on results day, a reaction perhaps clouded by the numbers \u2013 was at odds with the broadly positive response from analysts and commentators.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The scale of Primark\u2019s international operations \u2013 it has 476 stores in 18 countries \u2013 means it \u201cmakes sense\u201d for it to be a standalone company, said Barclays. ABF\u2019s food arm attracts little attention and Primark appears to trade at a significant discount to its fashion retail peers, said Panmure Liberum, which reckons there is an overall conglomerate discount of about 10 per cent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The FT\u2019s Lex column was especially enthused, suggesting a spin-off could unlock some 25 per cent of hidden value. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Too optimistic? Perhaps. Too late? Many think the spin-off should have occurred years ago. Still, some will see it as a case of better late than never, with a standalone Primark realising value long buried in ABF\u2019s breadth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Associated British Foods (ABF) says it may finally do what it has long resisted: spin off Penneys\/Primark. The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[97539,79,18,2215,19,17,55204,7769,7770,23584,393],"class_list":{"0":"post-172693","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-associated-british-foods","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-for-you","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-penneys","15":"tag-primark","16":"tag-shein","17":"tag-temu","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115524080969816004","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}