AB Foods Share Price (ABF)

ABF - AB Foods Investor Summary

Associated British Foods is a food production, distribution and retail company. It is currently listed on the London Stock Exchange and the company is a member of the FTSE 100 share price index. Associated British Foods took on its present name in 1960 after previously being known as Allied Bakeries. The company began in 1935 to invest in a small independent bakery and quickly expanded through acquisitions of several smaller bakeries as well as biscuit companies. By the 1950s the company owned fifty bakeries across the UK and had expanded into Australia as well as purchasing a teashop chain with interests in the UK, Australia and Africa. By the 1960s the firm was the largest bakery company in the world and continued to expand by purchasing the Twinings tea brand and the Fine Fare supermarket (later sold). In 1991 the group added a significant asset to its portfolio with the purchase of British Sugar. The group began to invest in its clothing chain, Penney's of Ireland, during this decade and brought the chain to the UK (known as Primark). In the last decade this has been a key to the company's growth and has been bolstered by the acquisition of Littlewood's previous stores and conversion to Primark in the UK. Primark now accounts for the biggest proportion of Associated British Food's net profit.

The company acquired further sugar concerns in the 2000s and moved further towards true multinational operations with the purchase of AB Mauri and Tones. The company currently employs over 90,000 people and operates in over 40 countries with revenues in 2007 of over £4 billion.