The owner of Primark is rising on the FTSE 100 today ahead of its third quarter trading statement.

The group which last published results on April 20th reported half-year profits £330 million compared with £178 million last year and shares are now rising approximately one percent ahead of its follow-up.

"The group's april half year results generally exceeded expectations." said Keith Bowman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, "Management remain confident in achieving good earnings growth over full year."

"Market consensus currently denotes a strong hold." he added.

The group's sugar business Silver Spoon has benefited from consolidation since the EU's sugar subsidy shake-up in 2006 which saw it buy South African, Ilovo Sugar and Spanish rival Azucarera Ebro in deals worth £317m and £500m respectively.

The EU sugar business consolidation led by Associated British Foods has also led to Tate & Lyle refocusing their business and their EU sugar operations were recently sold to American Sugar Refining Inc on 1st July.

Shares in ABF were up 10 pence at 17:08 BST (1.03 pct).