British clothing retailer Primark will not raise prices for its Spring/Summer range despite inflationary cost pressures, the finance chief of its owner Associated British Foods said on Thursday.

“Primark prices for the consumer will remain where they are,” John Bason told Reuters. “It’s locked and loaded.”

Rival Next has flagged price rises of 3.7 percent in the first half of 2022 and 6 percent in the second half due to higher freight rates and increased manufacturing costs. Marks & Spencer has also indicated price rises are coming.

Bason said the UK government’s move on Wednesday to lift Covid-19 restrictions for England had improved the outlook for Primark as more people would return to city centre workplaces and think more about overseas holidays.

“In the UK and Ireland I think we’re looking at an improving consumer outlook on the back of the Omicron infection rates coming down and I think it will be underpinned by those Covid restrictions being lifted yesterday,” he said after Primark updated on Christmas trading.

By James Davey; Editor: Kate Holton

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