Shares in the owner of Primark were briefly suspended after the company announced the temporary closure of stores due to coronavirus. Shares in Primark owner suspended after closures announced

All information is provided free of charge, 'as-is', and you use it at your own risk. "We are managing the business appropriately but do not expect to significantly mitigate the effect of the contribution lost from these sales. "Stocks in Asia are mixed, and European indices are tipped to rebound. ABF said that, due to the effect of COVID-19 on Primark's sales, it could not give earnings guidance for the rest of the financial year but an update would be given on 21 April.The company added that it has "a strong balance sheet, substantial cash liquidity with some £800m of net cash at the half year and significant undrawn bank facilities". "On the bright side, however, the company said most of its suppliers in China had reopened factories there as the virus situation has improved. Stores in England, which now total 152 with the new Manchester brand included and make up its biggest market in terms of total physical shop square footage, did not reopen until 15 June of course. London South East does not authorise or approve this content, and reserves the right to remove items at its discretion.Overseas shipments have been hit less than feared by the pandemic, thanks to global demand for medical supplies. Primark's biggest UK store is in Birmingham and has 160,000 sq ft of floorspace. The figure was in line with market forecasts.The headline US unemployment rate was 8.4% in August, down from 10.2% in July. How to go short Tesla with ETPs: Will Rhind, GraniteShares CEO explainsIn New York on Friday, Wall Street ended in the red despite a better-than-expected US jobs report for August, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.6%, the S&P 500 down 0.8% and Nasdaq Composite down 1.3%. Shares are usually suspended when there is a rush of trades in one company.The stores are in France, Spain, Italy and Austria and have been closed as governments in those countries have placed restrictions on non-essential stores to stop the spread of coronavirus among populations.Shares in ABF were trading again shortly after 10am and were down by 13% by 11.30am and ended the day 5.2% lower.

This compares to GBP52.2 million in the 2019 financial year.With our newsletters and social media channels.In early UK company news, Associated British Foods said trading in the fourth quarter has exceeded expectations, while Future said its annual results are set to beat market forecasts and Dechra Pharmaceuticals posted a rise in full-year profit.Imports, which collapsed in May but have since improved, contracted 2.1% – much worse than the 0.5% growth tipped by analysts.Adjusted operating profit for Primark, excluding exceptional charges, is now expected to be "at least at the top end" of the GBP300 million to GBP350 million range previously advised for the financial year ending September 12, compared to GBP913 million the year before.David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets, said: "The high level of exports is likely down to a large amount of personal protective equipment being sold to various governments around the world.

When added to the interim payout of 10.29p, the total dividend for the recently ended financial year was 34.29p, up 8.5% from 31.60p the year before.Dechra Pharmaceuticals posted full-year profit growth and said recent trading has been "encouraging".In Monday's economic calendar, there is the UK Halifax house price index at 0830 BST, followed by eurozone investor confidence at 0930 BST. "In China, the Shanghai Composite is down 1.3% on Monday, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 0.4%. Future said it expects results for its soon-to-end financial year to be "materially ahead" of market expectations. In Japan, the Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.5%. The virus originated in China late last year and the country has had the majority of infections and deaths since then.It came after news that the business had closed a fifth of its Primark stores, which make up a third of its sales. "The remainder of the estate, including the UK which represents 41% of sales, has seen like-for-like sales decline over the last two weeks and these have accelerated over the past few days as a result of reduced footfall. Trading in Associated British Foods shares was suspended at 9am after they inexplicably fell by 100% to 0.01p, something analysts said could have been because a trader hit the wrong button on their computer.Primark is owned by Associated British FoodsShares in the owner of Primark were briefly suspended after the company announced the temporary closure of stores due to coronavirus.ABF said: "These stores currently generate 30% of Primark's sales. In addition, as a result of continued strong cash conversion the business is de-levering quickly," Future added.Turning to the year ahead, Dechra said trading in the first few weeks of the new financial year has been "encouraging".China's exports expanded by more than expected last month as key markets eased virus containment measures, official data showed Monday, but imports unexpectedly shrank despite a push to boost domestic demand.The euro traded at USD1.1828 early Monday, higher than USD1.1809 late Friday.