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LONDON (Alliance News) - Irish nutrition and ingredients company Glanbia PLC on Wednesday said its pretax profit rose in the first half of its financial year, on the back of a rise in revenue heavily boosted by the weakness of the euro.
Glanbia said its pretax profit for the six months to July 4 was EUR117.6 million, significantly up from the EUR98.0 million it posted a year earlier, despite the group booking higher exceptional costs in the period.
Glanbia said its revenue in the half was up to EUR1.43 billion from EUR1.29 billion, helped by the weakness of the euro, as the 11% rise on a reported basis swings to a 3.9% decline in constant currencies. Revenue from the group's joint ventures and associate business fell by 12% in the half, down 20% in constant currencies, meaning total revenue for the group rose 4.4% on a reported basis, but declined 8.4% in constant currencies.
The company said it saw a strong performance in its performance nutrition business, but said trading in its global ingredients arm was held back by challenging dairy markets, which meant it fell to a loss.
The group said it will pay an interim dividend of 4.88 euro cents per share for the half, up 10% year-on-year.
"Today's results demonstrate that our strategy is on track. As a global nutrition company, whose purpose is 'delivering better nutrition for every step of life's journey', we are focused on the development of a branded and ingredient product portfolio to serve the growing consumer demand for nutritional products in formats suitable for healthy and active lifestyles. This has provided some insulation from the challenges of volatile global dairy markets," said Managing Director Siobhán Talbot.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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