Associated British Foods PLC (ABF.LN), the food, ingredients and retail group, Friday announced that trading results for the first two months of the new financial year were in line with expectations.

MAIN FACTS:

-Expects growth in sales and adjusted operating profit in the coming year, with the profit improvement weighted towards the second half.

-Outlook for economic growth in developed economies around the world remains subdued.

-Expects pressure on consumer disposable incomes to be maintained.

-However, commodity costs are subsiding although the effect of forward purchasing means that the benefit to the group will not be felt immediately and, in the case of Primark, not until the beginning of the new calendar year.

-Improved sugar pricing is expected to benefit AB Sugar in the coming year and group made a good start to production campaigns in the northern hemisphere.

-The group is also expected to benefit from the returns on recently completed capital investments.

-Shares at 1112 GMT down 0.92% at GBP10.73 valuing the company at GBP8.6 billion.

-By Jana Weigand, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9314; jana.weigand@dowjones.com

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