Associated British Foods has released financial information for the year ending 17 September 2005 prepared in accordance with IFRS.

Previously, ABF had prepared these results using UK GAAP. The company downplayed any disparities in data for the previous year, emphasising that the differences are minimal and stating that the move to IFRS will have no impact on management policy or cash flow.

The changes to the financial results included a fall in operating profit, down by £10m to £555m; adjusted earnings per share declined by 0.5p to 52.5p; net assets of £3,879m showed an increase of £154m from £3,725m the previous year; net cash funds were down £12m to £212m; unadjusted operating profit increased by £63m to £550m; and unadjusted earnings per share rose by 5.8p to 48p.

ABF claimed that the principal changes arise from differences in the accounting treatment relating to business combinations, deferred taxation and financial instruments underlining their contention that business performance has remained stable.

John Bason, finance director of ABF said: "The adoption of IFRS has had a minimal impact on the key measures of performance for the group and it will not change our business model, strategy, risk management processes or our cash flows."