Primark Revises 2026 First Half Forecasts Amid Sales Decline

Primark anticipates a year with worse results than expected. The Irish low-cost fashion group has reduced its like-for-like sales by 2.7% in the first 16 weeks of the fiscal year (to January 3rd, 2026), while it has managed to grow by 1% in total sales, thanks to the opening of new stores. Specifically, store rollouts contributed around 4 percentage points to sales growth.

“Primark’s sales growth during the period has been below expectations, so we expect revenue growth in the first half of 2026 to be in the low single digits,“ said George Weston, CEO of Associated British Foods, its owner, in a statement.

In addition, Weston contends that the company has “significantly increased discounting” to “effectively manage inventory levels, which has impacted profitability.“

“Primark has had a challenging start to the fiscal year,“ the CEO added. He says the company has gained market share in the UK, according to Kantar data, weighed down, however, by “weakened trading in continental Europe.“

Primark has started the year with results below expectations

By geography, like-for-like sales increased in the UK by around 1.7%, while total sales increased by 3%. Like-for-like sales in the UK and Ireland were 1.1% higher, and total sales were 2% higher.

However, in Europe (excluding the United Kingdom and Ireland), like-for-like sales declined by 5.7%, while total sales declined by 1%.

In the retail business (consisting solely of Primark), sales advanced 4% at current prices in the 16 weeks to January 3rd, 2026 compared with the same period last year. At constant prices, the advance was 1%.

Primark ended the last financial year (ended September last year) with growth of 1% to 9,489 million pounds ($12.79 billion), with openings contributing 4% to the sales increase. Operating profit stood at 1,120 million pounds ($1.51 billion), 1.8% more than in 2024, having soared 53% twelve months earlier.