Primark to axe 400 manager roles

Fashion retailer Primark is to axe 400 UK roles as it looks to simplify its management structure.

Primark’s owner, Associated British Foods, said the move would provide “clearer accountability, greater flexibility and more management support on the shop floor”. Primark currently employs around 29,000 staff in 191 UK stores.

Consultations with staff will now get under way, and are expected to continue for the next couple of months.

Primark’s UK like-for-like sales fell 10% in the 16 weeks to 8 January compared to the same period two years previously, after footfall was hit by the Omicron variant. The retail chain does not sell its goods online.

Including its European and US stores, total sales for the fourth quarter were ahead 36% year-on-year at £2.67bn on a constant currency basis.

Shares in AB Foods, which also owns a range of brands including Kingsmill, Silver Spoon, Blue Dragon and Twinings, were largely flat as at 1115 GMT, at 2,052.0p.