Glanbia raises outlook as nutrition drives recovery

24-Aug-2010 - Last updated on 25-Aug-2010 at 10:55 GMT

Glanbia has reported a significant recovery in turnover and profits for the first six months of 2010, driven largely by the strong performance of its nutrition and ingredient businesses.

Group revenue advanced 9.7 per cent on the equivalent period last year taking it over the €1bn mark to €1,036.4m while operating profit increased 38.7 per cent to €66.3m.

Nutrition growth

The biggest upward stride was made in US Cheese & Global Nutritionals which reported a 22 per cent rise in revenue to €490.6m. Higher cheese pricing contributed to the improvement but it was the performance of Global Nutritionals that really underpinned the recovery.

“There is strong demand globally for sports nutrition and protein fortified products for key areas of weight management, healthy aging, infant formula and fortified bar and beverage markets,” said Glanbia in a statement.

As for the Dairy Ireland business, performance was more mixed with overall sales up from €540.5m to €542.9m and operating profit rising from €5.9m to €19.1m.

Within the division, Irish Dairy Ingredients recovered in line with global dairy markets while Consumer Products, which includes a range of branded dairy products, had a difficult half year.

Commenting on the trading environment for Consumer Products, Glanbia said: “The impact of the recession on the consumer continues to overhang the Irish food retail market. Rising unemployment and falling house prices are a challenge to fragile consumer sentiment. The market for Consumer Products remains highly competitive with promotional programmes expected to continue throughout the second half.”

Improved outlook

Despite the existence of weak spots, Glanbia remains confidents about the overall prospects for the group and has upped its guidance for the full year accordingly.

John Moloney, group managing director, said: “While the global economic environment remains uncertain, the Board, taking current trading conditions into account is confident Glanbia will achieve strong revenue, operating profit and margin growth for the full year.

“As a result the Group has revised adjusted earnings per share guidance upwards and is now expecting approximately 20 per cent adjusted earnings per share growth for the full year.”

Earlier this year Glanbia announced a proposal to sell its Irish Dairy and Agri Businesses, following an approach from majority shareholder Glanbia Co-Operative Society Limited. But in May Glanbia failed to get enough support for the deal from members of the Co-Op. In its results for the first year half, Glanbia said there is currently no further update regarding the shelved transaction plans.