10th Sep 2026 07:57
(Alliance News) - AB Foods says adjusted operating profit for its financial year will be in line with expectations, but it did lift its view for earnings per share. It also announces a home delivery offering for Primark in Great Britain. Elsewhere, Currys and THG expect full-year earnings in line with consensus, Fevertree lifts its payout and boohoo sells a distribution centre.
Here is what you need to know before the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: called up 0.1% at 10,674.86
GBP: flat at USD1.3555 (USD1.3554 at previous London equities close)
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BROKER RATINGS
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TD Cowen starts Relx with 'buy' - price target 3,500 pence
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Associated British Foods reports it has seen "resilient trading" in the fourth quarter of the financial year, and it announces a plan for a home delivery offering at retail unit Primark. AB Foods, which concludes its fourth quarter on Saturday, says it expects annual adjusted operating profit largely in line with prior expectations, but adjusted earnings per share to be ahead. At Primark alone, it expects 2% on-year sales growth for the quarter, and 2% for the year as a whole. Like-for-like, however, it sees a 3.0% fourth quarter decline and 2.6% fall for the whole financial year. "Despite a challenging consumer environment in most markets, we continued to strengthen Primark's customer proposition," AB Foods says. In the UK alone, 1% fourth quarter sales growth is expected at Primark. Trading in the quarter started "strongly", but then suffered due to the heatwave which delayed purchases for autumn weather clothing. Trading picked up as the weather cooled. Chief Executive George Weston says: "Actions to strengthen Primark's customer proposition have continued at pace. Our priority focus areas, the UK and womenswear, continued to outperform our other markets and categories. Trading in continental Europe remained challenging, where actions to strengthen our customer proposition are at an earlier stage." The CEO adds: "Primark has made significant progress in building its digital capabilities and will continue this through both growing Click & Collect and by offering home delivery in Great Britain in the future. There is now an opportunity for incremental and profitable growth through this channel." AB Foods, which in April announced it would demerge Primark, says work on the split is "progressing well" and is set to be completed in December 2027. Away from the retail unit, AB Foods expects fourth quarter grocery sales "to grow in the mid-single digits in Q4", but full-year adjusted operating profit is expected to be slightly below prior expectations. Ingredients sales are expected to increase by some 10% in the quarter, with annual adjusted operating profit in line with a prior view. In Sugar, it saw "lower average selling prices in Europe" during quarter compared to a year prior. For financial 2026, Sugar's adjusted operating loss is expected to land towards the higher end of a previous guidance range of GBP25 million to GBP60 million. Finally, in Agriculture, a mid-single digit fourth quarter sales fall is expected, while full-year adjusted operating profit is expected to be in line with a prior view. Looking to financial 2027, AB Foods expects to see progress in most of its units, "with the exception of Sugar and the impact of the Hovis integration on Grocery". It sealed the buy of Hovis in July. It adds: "However, we remain cautious on consumer sentiment and also the impact of inflation and higher energy costs." For financial 2027, a Retail adjusted operating margin of 10% is expected. Grocery adjusted operating profit is expected to be slightly higher on-year, while in Ingredients, it is expected to be "broadly in line" with financial 2026. Sugar is expected to register an adjusted operating loss expected to be in the range of GBP70 million to GBP170 million and Agriculture adjusted operating profit is to be ahead of financial 2026.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Currys says it made a "strong start" to the year, benefitting from a heatwave and the World Cup. The electricals retailer says like-for-like revenue grew 7% on-year in the 17 weeks to August 29. It had concluded its prior financial year on May 2. UK & Ireland like-for-like revenue was up 6%, while in the Nordics, it grew 9%, Currys says. "Currys has maintained its strong momentum. Across the group we saw growth in both stores and online, with new categories, B2B and Services all growing strongly. In the UK&I, we gained share in every category, in a market that was flat even with the help of the World Cup and Summer heatwaves. In the Nordics we gained share in most categories and countries in a market that grew strongly," Chief Executive Fredrik Tonnesen says. Currys says it is "comfortable with market consensus", which it puts at GBP199 million for adjusted pretax profit. This would represent a 4.2% rise from GBP191 million in financial 2026.
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THG says it is "reaping the rewards" of a rebrand at its Myprotein offering, supporting its half-year outcome. The e-commerce firm says its pretax loss in the six months to June 30 narrowed to GBP36.3 million from GBP66.7 million, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation jumped 78% to GBP42.8 million from GBP24.0 million. The adjusted Ebitda more than doubled on a like-for-like basis, THG adds. Revenue rose 5.8% to GBP828.7 million from GBP783.4 million. "THG delivered a strong first half, reflecting our successful transition from a capex-intensive technology and consumer brands group into a highly profitable global leader in Nutrition and Beauty, focused on delivering sustainable growth in free cash flow," CEO Matthew Moulding says. "The group is now clearly reaping the rewards of Myprotein's global rebrand delivered across 2023 and 2024, alongside the expansion of the brand into licensing, activewear and higher-margin categories. Brand recognition continues to reach record highs, supporting a 57% increase in Myprotein branded products sold worldwide in H1, to 58.5 million products. The brand is on track to sell over 130 million products in FY 2026, which we believe makes Myprotein not only the world's largest sports nutrition brand, but also the fastest-growing established brand by product volumes." The CEO says THG entered the second half with "real momentum", though he notes "broader market challenges around consumer discretionary spend, record high whey commodity pricing, as well as recent EU tariffs". THG says it saw roughly 5% revenue growth in July and August in its core brands and markets. "Consistent growth" is expected for September, although it does note revenue in the third quarter was hit by a European heatwave which slowed demand. Full year expectations remain in line with consensus, which it puts at GBP1.80 billion for revenue and GBP101.7 million for adjusted Ebitda.
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OTHER COMPANIES
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Fevertree Drinks says it has left its full-year view unchanged, after an improved first half, as the drinks maker says it traded well in the summer. Pretax profit in the first half of 2026 rose 30% to GBP14.6 million from GBP11.2 million, Fevertree reports, with revenue up 14% to GBP165.1 million from GBP144.3 million. "We've made strong progress in the first half of the year. In the US, our partnership with Molson Coors is delivering, with sales momentum building, market share increasing, and our first national marketing campaign helping bring the brand to more consumers than ever before," CEO Tim Warrillow says, "It's also been encouraging to see the UK return to growth. Our new marketing campaign, 'straight up or mixed', landed at exactly the right time as consumers made the most of the summer weather, while products such as ginger beer and Mexican lime soda continue to demonstrate how the Fever-Tree brand can thrive whether consumers are choosing to drink alcohol or not." Warrillow says the firm "continued to trade well through the summer" and it is confident of meeting market expectations for 2026. Fevertree has lifted its half-year dividend by 2.0% to 6.09 pence per share from 5.97p.
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boohoo Group says it has sold a Sheffield distribution site, in a transaction which pushes the retailer towards "significantly deleveraging". As a result of the sale, it now expects net debt to be "negligible" at its February financial year end. boohoo, which trades as Debenhams, has sold the automation in its Sheffield distribution centre and reassigned the lease to Primark in a GBP90 million deal. boohoo says GBP76.5 million was received on completion, with the remainder to come early next year. "Concurrently, the group is entering into an agreement with a global [third-party logistics provider] that will enable it to continue to fulfil its stocked product as efficiently as it does today and will allow the group to scale its Delivered by Debenhams fulfilment proposition beyond fashion," boohoo says.
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Newbury Racecourse reports a narrower half-year loss, and it says the heatwave and World Cup put pressure on raceday attendances. The horse racing, entertainment and events business, which owns the racecourse in Berkshire, says its pretax loss in the first half of 2026 narrowed to GBP51,000 from GBP146,000. Revenue rose 6.3% to GBP10.3 million from GBP9.7 million. "Trading for the first half of 2026 is in line with company expectations. Compared with the first six months of last year, our revenues have grown across the majority of our income streams, but due to our continued commitment to prize money, the impact of high inflationary costs, the increase in the national living wage and business rates, the company has only been able to reduce losses compared to the same period last year. We remain confident in the delivery of a positive financial outturn for 2026," Chair Dominic Burke says. Declared raceday attendances rose 5% on-year to 56,154 as it held 14 fixtures this time compared to 12 a year prior. But like-for-like attendances fell 2% "due to the impact of the prolonged hot weather, the football World Cup and challenging underlying economic conditions".
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By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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