Why is Associated British Foods stock falling today?

Associated British Foods stock fell 2.8% today after the company published its annual results for the 52 weeks ended 12 September 2026, revealing a sharp deterioration in profitability and issuing a downbeat outlook that rattled investors.

Adjusted operating profit dropped 14% to £1.508 billion, while group revenue slipped 1% on a constant currency basis to £19.58 billion, as both the Primark retail arm and the Sugar division weighed heavily on performance.

The Primark segment was a particular source of disappointment: despite posting a 2% rise in sales to £9.8 billion, adjusted operating profit fell 12% to £1.0 billion and the operating margin contracted to 10.2%, reflecting stepped-up investment in pricing, marketing and digital.

More alarming for investors was the Sugar outlook — the division is forecast to post adjusted operating losses of up to £60 million in the current year and potentially up to £170 million in 2026/27, a trajectory that underpinned the company’s warning that both adjusted operating profit and adjusted EPS will fall below 2026 levels next year.

Adjusted EPS for the year already declined 11% to 156.0p.

The results landed in a challenging broader market environment. The FTSE 100 opened under pressure on Tuesday, with futures pointing lower amid a global equity selloff fuelled by weakness in US technology shares and uncertainty around the US midterm elections.

While the UK benchmark was positioned to outperform its European counterparts — which faced steeper declines — the negative macro backdrop offered ABF shares little shelter.

Adding to the headwinds, analyst sentiment on the stock had already turned cautious in recent months, with Kepler Cheuvreux having downgraded the shares in September, citing persistent headwinds and the removal of the Primark demerger as a near-term re-rating catalyst.

Taken together, the combination of a significant earnings miss on profitability, a gloomy forward outlook driven by Sugar losses, compressed Primark margins, and a risk-off market backdrop created the conditions for today’s decline, pushing shares toward the lower end of their intraday range of 1,861p to 1,926p and well below the 52-week high of 2,351p.