17th Apr 2020 09:16
(Alliance News) - Primark parent Associated British Foods PLC and Premier Inn-owner Whitbread PLC on Friday noted confirmation of their eligibility to access funding under the UK government's Covid Corporate Financing Facility.
The government's Covid financing facility was set up for large firms that were in sound financial health prior to the coronavirus crisis. It was created to help companies pay wages and suppliers, while they experienced disruption to their cashflows due to government imposed lockdowns.
Shares in AB Foods were up 3.2% at 1,998.50 pence each in London on Friday morning. Whitbread was up 6.9% at 2,755.00p.
Whitbread has not yet issued any commercial paper under the Covid programme. As of Thursday, the business had cash reserves of GBP400 million and access to a GBP900 million revolving credit facility.
In March, Whitbread cancelled its annual dividend and warned that its trading had been severely curtailed by Covid-19. All of Whitbread's pubs and restaurants in the UK were closed from March 20, and the company had begun temporarily closures of its hotels in the UK and Germany, Whitbread added.
AB Foods had issued a profit warning earlier in April and had cut pay packages and bonuses for senior managers and board directors, as it was forced to close its Primark stores amid government lockdown measures. The company had guided for progress in adjusted earnings per share for financial 2020 ending in September. Adjusted earnings per share in financial 2019 were 137.5p, up 1% year-on-year.
By Tapan Panchal; [email protected]
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