Primark in Leeds Trinity Centre and White Rose reopening dates confirmed

Some shoppers queued for hours to be the first back in the Trinity and White Rose stores back in June 2020.

When lockdown eased in November, the Primark in White Rose opened for 24 hours to cope with demand.

And with the route map out of lockdown announced, people now have a date to look forward to for when they can re-enter the high street favourite.

Based on the recent announcements by the UK Government, Primark bosses said they expect to reopen 153 stores in England on April 12.

Most non-essential retail, such as clothes stores, is due to reopen in England from April 12 - at the earliest.

But that date could change, depending on how the Covid situation pans out over the coming weeks and months.

Primark management believe they will have lost out on sales of £1.1 billion as a result of the increased Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns of the past six months.

Associated British Foods (ABF), which owns Primark, said it expects to take a further £480 million hit to sales in the second half of its financial year – March to August – but expects a strong boost once stores can reopen and pent-up demand is met.

The company added that, despite the heavy falls, sales at Primark in the six months to February 27 are still expected to come in at £2.2 billion, as some stores remain open overseas and taking into account sales periods before the new restrictions were introduced.

But this is well down on the £3.7 billion in the same period a year earlier, prior to the global pandemic.

Just 77 stores are currently open – representing 22% of total store selling space – primarily in the US.

Bosses said they expect to be “highly cash-generative” when stores can finally reopen, with 83% of floor space able to welcome customers by April 26, based on current estimates and government announcements in different countries.

ABF said it has saved money through cost-cutting measures to mitigate the falling sales and still has spring and summer stock from a year ago that could not be sold due to the pandemic, which will go into stores when they reopen.

Later in the year, stores will also be able to rely on the autumn and winter collections from last year.

The company said: “We expect the period after reopening to be very cash-generative. We expect to sell the £150 million of spring/summer inventory held over from last year, and our cash outlay in the second half for the coming autumn/winter season will mostly benefit from the £260 million autumn/winter stock held over from the first half.”

It added that, when stores were open, trading continued to be strong, with sales up 15% on a like-for-like basis compared with last year.

However, the number of customers when stores could open was down and trading hours restricted.

It added: “Performance has varied by store, reflecting the prevailing circumstances of our customers including home working, less commuting and very little tourism.

“Like-for-like sales at our stores in retail parks were higher than a year ago, shopping centre and regional high street stores were lower than last year, and large destination city centre stores, which are heavily reliant on tourism and commuters, continue to see a significant decline in footfall.”

The company added that it expects adjusted operating profit for Primark in the first half to be marginally above break-even, compared with an adjusted operating profit of £441 million for the same period in the last financial year.