A year ago, Associated British Foods made a key statement. It was one of the first big companies to turn down a promise by Rishi Sunak to pay employers £1,000 for every member of staff brought back from furlough and kept on the payroll until January. As it turned out, that Job Retention Bonus had to be abandoned when Britain was forced into a new lockdown in November. Furlough was instead extended and will start to taper from Thursday before ending in September.
That decision by ABF, majority-owned by the Weston family, illustrated the confidence the management team has in the business, which spans sugar production and the clothing retailer Primark. The FTSE 100 company, which gives a third-quarter trading update on Thursday, has already