{"id":446772,"date":"2026-04-21T17:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/446772\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T17:25:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:25:11","slug":"primark-and-penneys-to-be-spun-out-from-listed-parent-associated-british-foods-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/446772\/","title":{"rendered":"Primark and Penneys to be spun out from listed parent Associated British Foods \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Associated British Foods<\/a> is to demerge Penneys<\/a> and Primark from its food business, breaking up its conglomerate structure after 65 years and paving the way for the fashion chain to list on the FTSE 100.<\/p>\n

The group, which has a market capitalisation of about \u00a313 billion (\u20ac14.9 billion), confirmed its plan to separate by the end of 2027 on Tuesday, following a five-month evaluation with shareholders.<\/p>\n

The split is expected to be one of the largest ever FTSE 100 demergers and will create a stand-alone business for Primark, which has grown from a store in Dublin in 1969 to become one of the UK and Ireland\u2019s largest clothing retailers.<\/p>\n

ABF will focus on its food business, which includes sugar, agriculture and well-known grocery brands such as Twinings tea, Ovaltine drinks and Patak\u2019s sauces.<\/p>\n

The confirmation came as ABF reported a 2 per cent fall in revenue for the 24 weeks to February to \u00a39.7 billion, while pretax profit fell 9 per cent to \u00a3632 million driven by weak trading in its food business. Adjusted operating profit margins fell to 10.1 per cent, compared with 12.1 per cent a year ago.<\/p>\n

Shares in ABF fell 4.6 per cent in early trading in London.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The split] is about long-term performance, long-term growth in both companies which I think will be made more likely by getting the long-term governance in place,\u201d said George Weston, chief executive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scale and complexity around Primark will be better served with its own board,\u201d he added, noting the existing structure had been very successful, \u201cbut there comes a time when you need to move on\u201d.<\/p>\n

Primark has become ABF\u2019s largest business, with its annual revenues of more than \u00a39 billion accounting for about half of the group\u2019s turnover. Analysts expect a separate listing for Primark that will give it a valuation close to peers such as Next.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Primark chief Eoin Tonge: \u2018I want to bring Penneys back to what Penneys was\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

ABF expects the demerger will add less than \u00a345 million in costs, while one-off separation and transaction costs would be around \u00a375 million, it forecasts.<\/p>\n

Wittington Investments, the holding company for the Weston family that has food and retail businesses in North America and Europe, will retain majority control of both companies.<\/p>\n

The group maintained its earnings guidance for the year. Weston told the FT that higher costs in the second half of the year, driven by the war in the Middle East, would be \u201cmanageable\u201d.\u201cThe cost pressures haven\u2019t hit yet. They will, particularly if this situation continues,\u201d he said, adding that the company had already bolted on a fuel surcharge to bread distribution costs in Australia.<\/p>\n

He also cautioned that Primark sales were dependent on consumer spending. \u201cIf consumer confidence deteriorates, and we\u2019ve seen signs of it doing exactly that, then our sales levels will fall. Over the last two weeks, we\u2019ve seen poor sales right across Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

In preparation for the shake-up, ABF appointed Eoin Tonge as chief executive of Primark in March. He took over as interim CEO last year following the departure of Paul Marchant. \u2013 Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Irishman Eoin Tonge appointed chief executive of PrimarkOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Associated British Foods is to demerge Penneys and Primark from its food business, breaking up its conglomerate structure…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[97539,79,18,19,17,55204,7769],"class_list":["post-446772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-associated-british-foods","tag-business","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-penneys","tag-primark"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116443868994600340","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446772","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=446772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}