THE owner of Primark has warned that fresh coronavirus closures enforced on the discount fashion chain will result in a £375m hit from lost sales reports Sky News.

Associated British Foods (ABF) was among the first public companies to declare an expected loss as business counts the cost of toughening COVID-19 restrictions.

It said around 57% of Primark’s store estate would be shut down if Parliament approves plans to shut non-essential shops for a month in England from Thursday.

The store-only chain is particularly vulnerable to such restrictions as it has consistently refused to trade online and mitigate such a hit to its business coming, as it does, in the core Christmas trading period.