LONDON (Alliance News) - Nutrition and ingredients group Glanbia PLC Tuesday said it performed well in the first quarter of its new financial year, driven by strong revenue growth in both the US and internationally for its sports-nutrition products business.
The group said the overall outlook for the rest of the year remains positive, and the company reiterated its guidance for growth of between 8% and 10% in adjusted earnings per share on a constant-currency basis for the current financial year.
Total group revenue in the first quarter ended April 5, increased 17% including joint ventures and associates, boosted by 7% volume growth, 9% pricing growth and enhanced product mix.
Glanbia said its Global Performance Nutrition business performed particularly well in the three month period, driven by strong revenue growth in the US and internationally, which it said was driven almost entirely by volume growth, and supported by ongoing investments in the business as it continues to increase capacity. Revenues for the business increased 38% against a relatively soft first quarter last year, it said.
"While we expect to continue to outpace market growth for 2014, we believe the rate of growth will moderate in the coming quarters reflecting more challenging year-on-year comparatives," the company said in a statement.
Trading at its Global Ingredients division during the period was behind the prior year, it said, as lower milk throughput in Idaho reduced output of cheese and base whey.
"While overall revenues increased 10%, the driver of this was a 17% increase in market pricing for cheese and certain whey products which also drives higher milk input costs. Volumes declined 9% in the period as the competitive milk purchasing environment led to lower milk throughput in our Idaho cheese and whey facilities," the company said.
"Notwithstanding the current challenges in US Cheese and Ingredient Technologies related to milk supply, Global Ingredients is expected to deliver a positive year-on-year performance for the full year," it added.
It said that market conditions for Dairy Ireland, its dairy food business based in Ireland, continued to be challenged, with flat revenues for the period, as a decline in prices offset volume growth. However, the group said it expects the performance of Dairy Ireland to improve over the course of the year, with positive year-on-year growth expected for the full year.
The group said the trading performance from its joint ventures was ahead of last year.
Glanbia said its agribusiness delivered a "satisfactory" performance in the three month period. Revenues for the period were broadly in line with the prior year, as good demand for fertiliser was offset by lower feed demand compared to a strong period the prior year.
"The outlook for Glanbia for 2014 is positive," it said.
Glanbia shares were trading 4.5% higher Tuesday afternoon, at 11.11 pence.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; rowenaharrisdoughty@alliancenews.com; @rharrisdoughty
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Glanbia (GLB)