2026 Annual Results Announcement

Associated British Foods plc results for the 52 weeks ended 12 September 2026

Financial Headlines

_{Operating profit is stated after exceptional charges and other items as shown on the face of the consolidated income statement. In 2026, total exceptional items were £113m, which primarily related to non-cash impairment charges of £91m, and £22m related to restructuring activity that either has resulted, or will result, in cash costs (2025: £188m related to restructuring cash costs and non-cash impairment charges). The Group has defined and outlined the purpose of its Alternative Performance Measures ('APMs') in note 13. These measures are used within the Financial headlines and in this Annual Results Announcement.}
References to changes in revenue and adjusted operating profit in the following commentary are based on constant currency unless stated otherwise.
 

George Weston, Chief Executive of Associated British Foods, said:

"Our results this year reflect a challenging operating environment and macroeconomic headwinds. We have focused on what we can control, taking targeted actions to drive performance while making good operational and strategic progress and continuing to invest in long-term growth. 

"In Primark, we took significant steps to re-energise our customer proposition this year, both enhancing our product offer and strengthening our value credentials, underpinned by increased investment in marketing and digital engagement. Our key priority areas, the UK and womenswear, delivered growth and outperformed our other markets and categories. We are now building on what has worked well and applying the same focus and investment in our European markets and other product categories. We also progressed new avenues for growth, including expansion into new markets through an asset-light, margin-accretive franchise model, and our decision to introduce home delivery in Great Britain in the future. 

"In AB Foods, profit was impacted by US consumer weakness in certain categories and lower European sugar prices. However, this masked encouraging growth across a number of brands and businesses, supported by continued investment in product innovation, marketing and targeted acquisitions. Multi-year capital projects completed in Grocery and Ingredients this year provide new capacity and capabilities to drive growth. The integration of Hovis is well underway and we expect to drive significant cost synergies to invest in marketing and innovation and create a sustainably profitable UK bakeries business. While the outlook for Sugar remains challenging in 2027, future years should benefit from the recent uplift in world sugar prices and our restructuring actions to meet demand more efficiently.    

"Looking ahead, while we remain cautious about consumer sentiment and commodity costs, we will continue our sharp focus on driving financial performance and delivering the growth opportunities from capital investments across the Group. We are on track to complete the demerger of Primark from AB Foods in December 2027, positioning both businesses to deliver on their medium and long-term growth prospects."

Group Performance

• Revenue decreased 1% and adjusted operating profit decreased 14%, primarily reflecting lower profit in Primark
• Adjusted EPS decreased 11% to 156.0p, after benefitting from the accretive impact of share buybacks
• Free cash flow of £652m was broadly in line with 2025, mainly due to benefit from reduced inventory in Primark
• Invested £1.4bn in growth initiatives to add capacity, capabilities and technology
• Good progress delivering our focused sustainability priorities, particularly decarbonisation
• Group return on average capital employed was 12.7%

Segmental performance

• Retail:
  • Sales grew 2% to £9.8bn, with good execution of owned and franchise store openings contributing 5% to growth
  • UK like-for-like sales grew 0.5%, and we gained market share as we continued to strengthen Primark's customer proposition
  • In Europe, like-for-like sales declined 4.7% in a difficult trading environment and where growth initiatives are at an earlier stage
  • Adjusted operating profit decreased 12% to £1.0bn and adjusted operating profit margin was 10.2%, reflecting increased investment across price, marketing and digital initiatives to drive long-term growth

• Grocery adjusted operating profit declined 11%, mainly due to lower profit from US oils as expected, including from our Stratas JV
• Ingredients adjusted operating profit declined 8% due to soft market demand in bakery ingredients in the US
• Sugar adjusted operating loss of £47m, mainly due to lower average selling prices in Europe compared to 2025
• Agriculture adjusted operating profit of £19m, broadly in line with 2025

Shareholder returns

• Strong balance sheet with a leverage ratio of 1.1x at 12 September 2026
• Total dividend of 63.0p per share, in line with 2025, comprising interim dividend of 20.7p per share and proposed final dividend of 42.3p per share
• Completed £253m of share buybacks in 2026

Outlook

In 2027, the Group is expected to deliver adjusted operating profit and adjusted EPS below 2026, mainly due to Sugar, as previously guided. We remain cautious on consumer sentiment and also the impact of inflation and higher energy costs on our businesses. However, we expect to make continued strategic progress across the Group, including strengthening Primark's customer proposition, integrating Hovis, restructuring our UK Sugar business and commissioning of our new yeast plant in India. Our sharp focus on driving financial performance and the significant capital investments we have made in growth opportunities support our continued confidence in the Group's medium and long-term growth prospects.

Primark

In Primark, we are focused on like-for-like sales growth driven by our strengthened customer value proposition and supported by increased investment in our marketing and digital capabilities. We expect space growth in Europe, the US and our franchise markets to contribute around 4% to sales growth in 2027. For the foreseeable future, we continue to target white space growth to contribute around 4% to 5% per annum to our growth in total sales. Primark's adjusted operating margin is expected to be approximately 10% in 2027, reflecting continued investment in like-for-like sales growth. This does not include the impact of the expected dis-synergy costs as Primark moves towards demerger readiness. In 2027, the guidance reflects that there will be 53 weeks in the financial year.

AB Foods

In Grocery, adjusted operating profit is expected to be broadly in line with 2026, with sales growth in most brands and businesses offset by higher input costs. In 2027, our outlook includes a one-off impact from consolidating Hovis losses in the first year of ownership, ahead of delivering significant synergies to invest in marketing and innovation and to drive profit accretion. In Ingredients, adjusted operating profit is expected to be broadly in line with 2026, with good growth in specialty ingredients offset by start-up costs in our new yeast facility in India.  

In Sugar, we expect an adjusted operating loss in the range of £70m to £170m. There are a number of factors that could materially influence the outcome, either positively or negatively, in particular: significantly higher gas costs; production levels in Africa resulting from El Niño weather impacts; and currency movements, especially the Malawian kwacha. The higher end of the guidance range assumes all of these variables have a negative impact on performance. Despite an expected significant reduction in European sugar production in 2027, it is likely that the European sugar market will remain in surplus in the short term due to the high inventory levels carried over from 2025. However, the recent positive turn in world sugar pricing should benefit future years. In Agriculture, we expect adjusted operating profit to be ahead of 2026.

Demerger of Primark

In April 2026, the ABF Board completed a review of the Group structure and announced its decision to demerge Primark from its Food business. Work on the separation is progressing well and the demerger is expected to be completed in December 2027. AB Foods is how we will refer to the standalone Food business post the demerger, and in anticipation of that, how we will refer to our group of food businesses going forward. Ahead of the demerger, we will host separate Capital Markets Days for Primark and AB Foods. We will also host a series of shorter investor education events for AB Foods, starting with a Group spotlight, followed by sessions for each of its three reporting segments post demerger: Grocery, Ingredients and Sugar & Agribusiness. These are expected to take place between April and July 2027.

For further information please contact:

Associated British Foods:

Tel: +44 20 7399 6500

Joana Edwards, Chief Financial Officer
Lucinda Baker, Director of Investor Relations
Joe Carberry, Director of Corporate Affairs

Brunswick:

Tel: +44 20 7404 5959

Rosie Oddy
Emilia Smith

There will be an analyst and investor presentation at 09.00am GMT today which will be streamed online and accessed via our website here.

ABF Annual Results Announcement (PDF)

Notes to Editors

Associated British Foods is a diversified international food, ingredients and retail group with revenue of £19.6bn and 140,000 employees in 57 countries. It has significant businesses in Europe, the Americas, Australia, Africa and Asia.

Our purpose is to provide safe, nutritious and affordable food, and clothing that is great value for money. We take a long-term, patient approach to drive sustainable growth and cash generation across our portfolio of food and retail businesses to create value for all stakeholders. This aligns with our approach to sustainability and sustainable supply chains, where we focus on what matters and where we can make a difference.