Stock Spotlight: Pandemic pain does not shake Primark's commitment to bricks and mortar retail

Aims to increase stores 33% in five years

Despite losing more than a third of its trading days to pandemic-related lockdown restrictions, Primark owner Associated British Foods has doubled down on its commitment to bricks and mortar and continues to shun the commonly accepted knowledge that an e-commerce offering is essential to the survival of a high street retailer.

Like-for-like sales were down 12% on pre-pandemic levels, according to ABF's 2021 annual results, but a strong recovery in the second half of the year has boosted the firm's profits to £415m, up 15% on 2020. Even after job retention scheme monies are returned to the UK, Republic of Ireland, Czechia, Portugal and Slovenia, Primark still recorded profits of £321m, 32% of the group's total profits. By 2026, the firm aims to increase its number of stores by 33%, from 398 to 530 shops globally, with no signs of an online store on the horizon, a move that Henry Flockhart, manager of Aviva U...