Associated British Foods, which owns Primark and a range of food brands, has reported a 30% fall in annual profits.
ABF posted profits of £717 million in the year to 12 September as revenues fell 1% to £12.8 billion, down from £1.02bn a year earlier.
Much of the fall was due to its sugar businesses, which reported a 77% decline in operating profits as sugar prices continue to drop.
Its grocery brands, which include Ovaltine Twinings, Allied Bakeries and Dorset Cereals saw profits rise 6% to £285m, however. And there were even more impressive results in ABF's ingredients business, where profits surged by 85%.
Primark's performance was responsible for much of offsetting the overall fall in profits. Like-for-like sales were up 1%, helping to push up revenues by 8% to £5.3bn and profits up 2% to £673m.
