Associated British Foods Share Discussion Threads

[brain smiley] 17/1/2013 11:32

Christmas performance
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No matter the problems facing other high street retailers, the relentless rise of Primark shows no sign of stalling.

The discount fashion retailer - which opened a second store on London's Oxford Street towards the end of last year - saw sales for the 16 weeks to 5 January jump to a much better than expected 25%. Analysts at Panmure Gordon estimated like for like sales grew by around 9%, with a further 14% from new space and 2% from carrying more stock in new larger stores. Owner Associated British Foods said:


Like for like growth benefited from comparison with weak sales during the unseasonably warm autumn of 2011 and good trading over the Christmas period.

Operating profit margin was higher than the same period last year, reflecting not only the benefit, as expected, of lower cotton prices since the last half year, but also better trading.



In all it opened 14 new stores during the 16 weeks, including four in the UK and six in Spain.

Overall, ABF's sales grew by 10%, with sugar up 12%, agriculture up 3% and sugar and ingredients both level. Martin Deboo at Investec said:


These are exceptional numbers and feel structural rather than one-off in nature. With the other divisions trading at least in line with our expectations, we expect to upgrade 2013 earnings per share by upwards of 2%. We expect a strong open to the shares, even from this high level.



Meanwhile Graham Jones at Panmure Gordon hailed Primark's "stunning growth" and said:


The focus for investors in our view should be how to value Primark within the ABF group. Our sum-of-the-parts models assigns a value to Primark of £7.78bn, and drives an increase in our price target from 1450p to 1670p. Even after the stock's strong run this implies a further 9.4% total return over the next 12 months, and in our view ABF should be a core holding in the sector.

[brain smiley] 19/12/2012 14:52

shorters getting hammered here.£1 above the average broker target price and with a 16.8 2013 PE.

[ohbummer] 18/12/2012 12:19

It got there, Miata and Gateside are nofools.

[gateside] 12/12/2012 14:57

Going to 1530/1540 real soon!!!

[miata] 20/11/2012 09:11

Going to 1430/1440 real soon.

[nofool] 07/11/2012 16:42

Going back to 1330/1340 real soon?

[global mega boom] 06/11/2012 07:17

Witch part of the results are they going to worry about this time, you know the drill by now :)

[global mega boom] 02/11/2012 18:09

perhaps 1406 is a step to far for now +50% will do them?

[global mega boom] 27/10/2012 20:12

so its tipped its hand, higher prices to come now

[global mega boom] 25/10/2012 17:48

this could go either way here imo

[sir rational] 24/10/2012 22:10

Polish fat bellies?

[gateside] 24/10/2012 20:12

This company is far more than Primark - who by the way are a great success and are expanding in Europe

[quilarvium] 20/10/2012 23:56

Slave labour is getting harder and harder to find!Even at a pound a tee shirt the margin is going to pop sooner rather than later!Paul Marchant should at least be aware this time next year we may not be a millionaire Del Boy!

[jon827] 10/9/2012 08:43

ABF make an announcement.....
SP drops......
Free BB posters declare "This is teh top" ........
Price gets to -7%/-10% discount from high......
BTFD......
Makes another new high.

Wash, rinse, repeat!

:)

[spob] 12/7/2012 07:35

very good results

[jon827] 12/7/2012 07:08

You know the drill by now

[gateside] 24/4/2012 14:27

Nomura keeps buy stance and 1,325p target

Jefferies mains hold recommendation and 1,155p target

[broadwood] 24/4/2012 12:06

They're waking up.

[broadwood] 24/4/2012 10:54

Should ensure share strength over the next few weeks imo.

Sugar refining to fashion retail group Associated British Foods reported adjusted earnings growth of 5% for the 24 weeks ended 3rd March.

Group revenue was up 11% to £5.766bn.

Adjusted operating profit rose 6% at £412m and adjusted profit before tax was up 3% to £363m.

Adjusted earnings per share were up 5% at 34.4p and dividend per share is raised 8% to 8.5p.

The group had net debt £1.592bn after net capital investment of £326m at period end.

Operating profit was up 6% to £378m, profit before tax up 3% at £329m and basic earnings per share up 4% to 31.7p.

George Weston, CEO, said: "The group delivered good growth in revenue and profit. AB Sugar and Primark both performed strongly, demonstrating continuing momentum. We expect substantial growth in both adjusted operating profit and adjusted earnings per share for the group for the full year."

The sugar businesses delivered profit substantially ahead of last year with much stronger regional sugar prices and an excellent campaign in the UK compared with the challenges of last year's winter.

In Grocery, Twinings Ovaltine and the UK businesses performed well. However, a combination of higher costs for the Castlemaine meat factory and a difficult trading environment in Australia led to a disappointing first half for our meat business in George Weston Foods although a recent improvement in its bakery business is encouraging.

Primark again delivered a robust result. Revenue grew by 15% in the half year driven by a strong programme of new store openings, with 1 million sq ft of selling space added in the last 12 months, and a like-for-like sales increase of 2%

[broadwood] 24/4/2012 08:23

Hopped on here at 1226.

Company sound extremely confident.

Upgrades coming?