Primark owner, ABF has reported a 17% drop in group revenue to £6.3 billion. While adjusted operating profit fell 46% during the period to £369 million. Primark was forced to close all of its stores multiple times over the past year leading to a loss of £3 billion of sales and over £1 billion of profit over the last 12 months.
However, since reopening on April 12, Primark said stores in England and Wales delivered “record sales” in the first week of reopening.
Mintel comment:
“While Primark has inevitably been hard hit by COVID-19 due to its lack of an online channel to fall back on, it has benefited from pent-up demand following the latest lockdown with an increase in basket sizes when stores reopened on 12 April 2021. The value retailer is in a good position to capitalise on the growing polarisation caused by the pandemic, with less affluent and younger consumers the worst hit financially. Consequently, price has become a growing issue, in particular for young women who have typically been the main clothes shoppers. Mintel’s upcoming Womenswear – UK, May 2021 report highlights that the price of clothing has become more important for 56% of female clothes shoppers aged 16-34. Nevertheless, the shift towards buying fashion online will be a long-term legacy trend of the pandemic and without a transactional online site Primark could gradually continue to lose share of the fashion market over the next few years.”
