The company said stock levels had recovered well following a fire that destroyed its main UK warehouse last November.
Seven stores were opened in the first half of the year and three were closed, bringing the total to 126, with 2.9 million sq ft (269,420 sq m) of retail selling space.
ABF said that trading in the Littlewoods stores that it bought late last year finished in January and the trading result will be 'somewhat ahead of our expectation at the time of acquisition'. In all, 41 stores have been transferred to Primark management to be refitted and these will open under the Primark fascia progressively from late spring until early 2007.
It is now expected that 1.4 million sq ft (130,065 sq m) of retail selling space will be traded from these stores compared with the 1.2 million sq ft (111,485 sq m) previously announced. Agreement has been reached to sell 59 of the remaining 79 stores and their value to date is 'ahead of our expectation' said the company.
No comments yet