Primark owner AB Foods says total sales rise on new store openings

LONDON, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Associated British Foods (LSE: ABF.L - news) said total sales at its discount fashion store Primark were up 7 percent in the four months leading up to Christmas on a constant currency basis, boosted by new store openings in Spain and the United States.

The company said, however, that it had been impacted by unseasonably warm weather in the nine weeks to Jan. 2, with shops open more than a year posting weaker sales.  (Reporting by Sarah Young, Editing by Paul sandle)