Associated British Foods expects its Primark fashion chain to trade strongly in the United Kingdom when stores are allowed to re-open again after Covid-19 lockdowns, its finance chief said on Thursday.

“We know that people will welcome us back,” John Bason told Reuters.

He noted that in Austria, where Primark stores re-opened three weeks ago, like-for-like sales year-on-year were already positive.

Earlier, AB Foods warned it expected to lose sales worth 1.1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) from the lockdown of Primark stores in its first half to February 27. It expects to lose a further 480 million pounds ($679 million) in its second half.

Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Kate Holton.