Primark owner Associated British Foods Plc (ABF) has raised its expected earnings per share for the year as another strong performance in its Primark division boosted profits.

In the 16 weeks to 21st June, retail revenues at Primark rose 22% at constant exchange rates, bringing the year-to-date sales increase to 17%.

In a statement, ABF said: “This was driven by like-for-like growth, a further increase in retail selling space and superior sales densities in our new stores.

“In the third quarter, the strong like-for-like sales growth benefited from the warm weather, especially compared to the very cold months of March and April last year, and built further on strong trading in May and June last year.  Year-on-year selling space has increased by 1.0 million square feet from 9.0 million square feet last year. Operating margin remained in line with the first half, continuing to benefit from warehouse and distribution efficiencies and lower freight rates.

“We have a very strong pipeline of new stores in Europe extending over a number of years. With our current phasing of store openings, we now expect a net increase in retail selling space in this financial year of 1.2 million square feet, which is actually 1.4 million square feet of additions less 0.2 million square feet of closures arising where old stores are too small or have been relocated. We then expect the increase in selling space in the next financial year to be a little less than 1.0 million square feet, to be followed in the autumn of 2015 by a strong programme of openings.”