The financial year of PG plc runs from May 1 to April 30. Last week, PG published its interim financial statements for the six-month period to October 31 and held a virtual meeting for financial analysts, providing a detailed review of the supermarkets and retail businesses as well as the Zara and Zara Home franchise operations.
These financial statements were of great interest to PG shareholders and the market at large to gauge the impact of COVID-19 on the performance of the group.
The April 2020 annual financial statements published in the summer had already revealed the immediate impact of COVID-19 during the last two months of the 2019/20 financial year, especially on the retail and catering outlets within the PAMA and PAVI shopping villages as well as the Zara and Zara Home franchise operations. All retail outlets were closed from March 23 until May 3 in line with health authority regulations.
As such, the results for the first six months of the 2020/21 financial year need to be analysed in the context of the timing of the pandemic and closure of retail outlets which overlapped from one financial year to the next.
Although retail outlets were allowed to reopen in early...
