The Primark machine suffers a continental splutter at a bad moment | Nils Pratley

Big fall in sales in rest of Europe means split from owner’s food businesses would be distraction best avoided for year or twoIt is probably a good thing that Associated British Foods has not yet split itself in two, liberating the go-getting and supposedly reliable Primark from the more volatile food and ingredients businesses. In standalone form, Primark would probably have suffered a bigger share price thump than the 14% fall that the still-combined conglomerate sustained after Thursday