{"id":678148,"date":"2026-11-08T00:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T00:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/678148\/"},"modified":"2026-11-08T00:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T00:26:13","slug":"primark-must-convince-investors-that-its-best-days-arent-over-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/678148\/","title":{"rendered":"Primark must convince investors that its best days aren\u2019t over \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Most analysts agree the planned separation of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/primark\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/primark\">Primark<\/a> (known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/penneys\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/penneys\/\">Penneys<\/a> in Ireland) from Associated British Foods (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/associated-british-foods\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/associated-british-foods\">ABF<\/a>) makes sense. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Primark has become a major international retailer in its own right, and the consensus has long been that separating it from ABF\u2019s food businesses could help ease the so-called conglomerate discount that can weigh on valuations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">However, while ABF shares have advanced slightly since April\u2019s demerger announcement, they have nevertheless slipped some 6 per cent in 2026, and the company\u2019s latest results show Primark faces a challenge in convincing investors that its best days are not behind it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Primark sales rose 2 per cent to \u00a34.7 billion in the first half, but like-for-like sales fell 2.7 per cent. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/united-kingdom\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/united-kingdom\/\">UK<\/a> delivered modest growth with a 1.3 per cent increase, but continental Europe was much weaker, with sales from established stores falling 5.6 per cent. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">New stores contributed 4 per cent to overall sales growth, underlining the importance of expansion, but the performance of existing stores is harder to disguise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Panmure Liberum said it remained \u201ccautious on the pace of Primark\u2019s turnaround\u201d, identifying a recovery in like-for-like sales as central to the investment case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">On a conference call with analysts, Primark chief executive and Dubliner Eoin Tonge spoke about reinvigorating the customer proposition, with renewed emphasis on value, improvements to the womenswear range and increased marketing and digital investment. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-it-article-body__interstitial-link\">[\u00a0<a aria-label=\"Open related story\" class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/11\/06\/aer-lingus-profits-slump-as-airline-plans-capacity-and-job-cuts\/\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Aer Lingus profits slump as airline plans capacity and job cutsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">However, these initiatives come at a cost, with operating margins falling to 10.1 per cent. Few investors question the logic of the demerger, due by December 2027, but separating Primark from ABF will not, in itself, solve its trading problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most analysts agree the planned separation of Primark (known as Penneys in Ireland) from Associated British Foods (ABF)&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[75806,72,61,60,30789,27252],"class_list":["post-678148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-associated-british-foods","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-penneys","tag-primark"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}