Acquisition

Associated British Foods PLC
11 July 2005



                          Associated British Foods plc



    ABF accelerates expansion of Primark with the acquisition of Littlewoods



Associated British Foods plc ('ABF'), the international food, ingredients and
retail group, has today announced the acquisition of Littlewoods Stores Holdings
Limited and St James Street Properties Limited (together 'Littlewoods') from LW
Finance Limited for a consideration of £409m, on a debt and cash free basis,
subject to a working capital adjustment.  The consideration will be paid in cash
from existing resources at completion, which is expected at the end of July.  At
30 April 2005 Littlewoods had historic gross assets of £431m, an operating
profit for the year of £18m and profit before tax was break even.



The acquisition comprises 120 Littlewoods stores covering high street locations
across the UK but excludes the homeshopping activities of Littlewoods.  The
stores trade from a total of 2.1 million square feet and have a further 2.5
million square feet of non-trading space.



ABF intends to retain some 40% of the current retail selling space of the store
portfolio which it will convert to Primark.  Those stores selected will best
suit Primark in terms of location and size.  It is confidently expected that the
remaining stores will be sold to other high street retailers.



Primark currently has 122 stores and over 2.4 million square feet of retail
selling space.  It already has a strong programme of new store openings and
expects to trade from 128 stores with 2.9 million square feet of selling space
by February 2006.  These further new stores will be opened progressively from
June 2006 and will increase this selling space by nearly 30%.



The total investment is expected to be some £375m after receipt of the net
proceeds from stores sold to other retailers and the cost of the refurbishment
and fitting out for Primark.  In the first full year of trading the operating
profit return is expected to exceed the ABF cost of capital.



In the half year to 5 March 2005 Primark reported a sales increase of 12% to
£448m and an operating profit increase of 18% to £59m.  The like-for-like sales
increase was 6% and Primark has continued to trade very strongly since that
date.



Littlewoods will continue to trade for the period until March 2006 with the full
backing of ABF.  The retail restructuring specialist, Hilco, has been retained
to manage these operations on behalf of ABF until then.



George Weston, Chief Executive of Associated British Foods, said,



'This is a unique opportunity to acquire a portfolio of large stores in
attractive high street locations.  It will bring Primark to many towns and
cities where it is currently not present.'



For further information please contact:



Associated British Foods                     Tel: [phone]
John Bason, Finance Director



Citigate Dewe Rogerson                       Tel: [phone]
Jonathan Clare / Chris Barrie / Sara Batchelor



A conference call for analysts will take place at 9.00am (BST) on [phone]
5005, requesting Associated British Foods.



Slides for the conference call will be available on the company website,
www.abf.co.uk.  The presentation will also be audible on a telephone replay
facility for 7 days following the event on [phone], account number
422522 and ask for recording number 758456.





Notes to Editors



About Primark



Primark is a major retail group employing over 10,000 people.  Primark operates
122 stores in the UK and in Ireland (where it trades under the Penneys name)
with 2.4 million square feet of selling space.  Primark offers fashionable
quality merchandise at sensible prices.



Primark already had a programme of new store openings which includes the
recently announced acquisition of stores which had previously traded as Allders.
Kingston and a larger store in Mullingar have successfully commenced trading
and a further six stores, in Leicester, Bromley, Hull, Leeds, Cardiff, Thurrock
and Dundalk will open in time for Christmas.  The Oxford store is scheduled to
open next year.



Primark carries a full range of departments - Womenswear, Secret Possessions
Lingerie Shop, Childrenswear, Menswear, Footwear, Accessories, Hosiery and
Household Textiles.  Brands include Primark(R) Theme(R) Cedarwood State(R) Rebel
(R) Denim Company(R) Atmosphere(R) Prima(R) early days(R) Young Dimension(R) and
Secret Possessions(R).


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange