Primark profits up despite downturn

by Becky Charles, marketingmagazine.co.uk 04-Nov-09, 09:25

LONDON - Primark is defying the downturn with profits up 20% to £2.3bn for the year to the end of September.

The clothing and household goods retailer's parent company, Associated British Foods (ABF), announced that like-for-like sales, excluding gains from new store space, were up 7%, while operating profits climbed from £233m to £252m.

Primark generates a fifth of ABF's total turnover and operates 191 stores.

Meanwhile, Primark has been attacked by War on Want, a charity that fights poverty in developing countries, which has said that keeping the retailer's clothing prices low comes at a terrible cost to its garmet workers' living standards.