Last checked at 
* Q3 sales up 207% year-on-year
* Like-for-like sales up 3% on two-year basis
* Company raises profit outlook; shares up 5%
(Adds detail, finance chief comments, shares)
By James Davey
LONDON, July 1 (Reuters) - Primark's sales exceeded
pre-pandemic levels and management expectations in its latest
quarter as stores reopened after COVID-19 lockdowns and
consumers splashed out to update their wardrobes.
The fashion retailer's owner Associated British Foods
said Primark's sales were up 207% year-on-year to 1.61
billion pounds ($2.23 billion) in the 16 weeks to June 19,
while like-for-like sales were up 3% compared the same period
two years ago, before the pandemic hit.
In the same period last year the first lockdowns closed all
Primark stores for an average of 12 weeks. Primark has stores
across Europe and the United States, but does not trade online.
This year one in five stores were open at the beginning of
the quarter, while all 396 were open at the end.
Shares in AB Foods were up 5% at 0837 GMT, extending
year-on-year gains to 18.5%.
AB Foods finance chief John Bason said the performance
reflected an increase in both confidence and willingness to
spend by customers compared to previous reopenings after
lockdown.
"Some of the fashion is flying off the shelves," he told
Reuters.
"That is a return to people really wanting to buy things
because they're starting to go out again, whereas previously,
after the other two lockdowns, it really was all about
leisurewear or nightwear or things for the home."
Bason said Primark had sold out of "really hot items", such
as pink gingham and purple power blazers and seam-free two-piece
sets.
But he noted sales of swimwear for foreign holidays and
formalwear were still down, reflecting the lack of overseas
travel and people still working from home.
He said data for the total UK clothing market, which
includes online sales, for the seven-week period after reopening
showed both volume and value share gains for Primark on a
two-year basis.
With higher expectations for Primark's final-quarter sales,
AB Foods raised its forecast for the division's 2020-21 adjusted
operating profit before repayment of government job retention
scheme monies to "broadly in line" with 2019-20's 362 million
pounds, versus previous guidance of "somewhat lower".
AB Foods also owns major sugar, grocery, agriculture and
ingredients businesses. Third-quarter grocery sales fell 3%,
while sugar revenues jumped 21%.
The group now expects full-year adjusted operating profit to
be in line with last year's 1 billion pounds.
($1 = 0.7231 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Kate Holton and Jan
Harvey)
