LONDON – Associated British Foods’ Primark fashion business has good stock availability for the Christmas trading period and will not be raising prices despite supply chain disruption and inflationary pressures, its finance chief said on Tuesday.
“We’re basically saying that we’ve got good stock cover for Christmas, our stores will be full,” John Bason told Reuters after the group reported full year results.
He said there would be limited stock cover on a small number of Primark lines which customers “may struggle to even see”.
Bason also pledged that Primark’s prices for autumn/winter stock would be flat versus the 2020-21 year.
“We’re not putting Primark prices up,” he said.
It was able to take this stance because Primark was benefiting from transaction currency gains arising from the weaker U.S. dollar, improved store labour efficiency and lower operating costs.
(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Michael Holden)
