Primark staff were dealt a blow yesterday with news the firm will slash 400 store management jobs to reduce costs.
The High Street discount retailer will cut the roles from its 191 UK stores in response to rising cost pressures and as sales remain below pre-pandemic levels.
Primark employs 29,000 staff and said it will start discussions with those affected by the cuts.
Job loses: Will cut 400 store management roles roles from its 191 UK stores in response to rising cost pressures and as sales remain below pre-pandemic levels
Owner Associated British Foods, which also owns Twinings and Ovaltine, added that it will increase prices amid soaring energy and supply chain costs.
ABF said it would pass the increasing costs on to customers ‘where necessary’. Shares dropped 4.2 per cent, or 89p, to 2042p as it also warned that the soaring costs could eat into its profits.
Group sales in the 16 weeks to January 8 were £5.6billion, up 16 per cent from a year earlier.
Primark sales were £2.7billion, 36 per cent higher than a year earlier, but across stores they were still 5 per cent down from pre-Covid levels.
The company said that sales were hit in December as shoppers were turned off by the spread of the Omicron variant.
Primark was hit especially hard by reduced footfall as the retailer does not sell clothes online