LONDON (Alliance News) - Nutrition and ingredients group Glanbia PLC said Wednesday that strong demand in the US and internationally for its sports-nutrition products business, drove an uptick in first-half profit and revenue.
The company posted a pretax profit EUR97.9 million for the six months to July 5, up from EUR95.0 million in the first half of 2013.
"Overall, the outlook for 2014 is positive. While Global Performance Nutrition is expected to be the main driver of growth, Dairy Ireland is expected to deliver an improved performance versus the prior year, with Global Ingredients largely unchanged," the company said in a statement.
On the back of this, the company reiterated its guidance for 2014 of 8% to 10% growth in adjusted earnings per share on a constant currency basis.
Glanbia said total revenue, from both its wholly-owned business and joint ventures and associates, increased to EUR1.80 billion, up from EUR1.66 billion a year earlier.
Revenue solely from its wholly-owned businesses rose 4.7% on a reported basis and 7.7% at constant currency, to EUR1.29 billion, driven by its Global Performance Nutrition business, which boosted by strong international growth.
"Global Ingredients delivered a satisfactory first half in the context of milk procurement issues in Idaho and unfavourable whey pricing dynamics. Dairy Ireland performed in line with expectation, albeit behind the prior year while joint ventures and associates was also in line with expectation. We continue to invest in our strategy of maximising the value of our ingredients," said Managing Director Siobhán Talbot in a statement.
Glanbia said to has set aside EUR60 million to fund a new capital investment programme for its two growth platforms Global Performance Nutrition and Global Ingredients, including investing in its Idaho-based facilities in the US.
Glanbia shares were trading 0.7% higher at 11.73 pence Wednesday morning.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; rowenaharrisdoughty@alliancenews.com; @rharrisdoughty
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Glanbia (GLB)