“Primark will be probably the only — or certainly by some way the biggest — international retail clothing business on the FTSE 100, and food will be the only food pure-play in the FTSE 100,” AB Foods’ CEO George Weston said in an interview. “We are setting up two big, significant businesses with the governance that is appropriate for both.”
(April 21): Associated British Foods plc will separate budget clothing chain Primark and break up one of the UK’s biggest conglomerates after more than three decades.
In a move many in the market believed the billionaire controlling Weston family would never consider, Primark will become one of Europe’s biggest standalone clothing companies, facing up to rivals like Inditex SA and H&M. The separate food arm will span from groceries to sugar plantations.
