Food technology and ingredients company Kerry Group has today updated its full year constant currency adjusted earnings per share guidance to 7% to 10% after what it called a “good performance” during the first half of 2024.
Shares in the company moved higher in Dublin trade this morning.
Kerry said its group revenue for the six months to the end of June fell by 5.9% to €3.9 billion due to pricing deflation of 4%, unfavourable translation currency of 0.9% and the effect from disposals net of acquisitions.
Profits after tax were down 18.5% to €291.5m in the period, but its group EBITDA increased by 6.6% to €552m from €518m for the six month period.
The Kerry Board has declared an interim dividend of 38.1 cent per share, up from its previous year interim dividend of 34.6 cent.
Breaking down its divisions, Kerry said that revenue at its Taste & Nutrition division rose by 3.1% to €3.419 billion, while EBITDA increased by 5% to €551m.
The company noted that foodservice continued to perform strongly with volume growth of 7.3%, supported by new menu innovations, seasonal products and solutions to reduce operational cost and complexity, while growth in the retail channel reflected good performances in the Americas and APMEA.
Revenue at its Dairy Ireland division fell by 1.9% to €592m, while EBITDA jumped by almost 20% to €35m.
Kerry said its Dairy Consumer Products performed well, with volume growth led by Kerry’s snacking and branded cheese ranges.
During the six month period, Dairy Consumer Products increased its Cheestrings manufacturing capacity with the commissioning of its extended plant in Charleville, Ireland and also launched the new SMUG hybrid range of oat and dairy-based milk, cheese and butter products.
Edmond Scanlon, Kerry’s chief executive, said the company was pleased to report a good performance across the first half of the year.
“Taste & Nutrition delivered good volume growth ahead of our end markets, with strong profit growth and margin expansion across the business, contributing to our earnings per share growth of 9.1% in the period,” Mr Scanlon said.
He noted that Taste & Nutrition volume growth was led by strong performances in the foodservice channel across all three regions, as it continues to support established foodservice chains evolve and develop their businesses, while working with emerging leaders to upscale their operations and offerings.
“Volume growth in the retail channel was driven by good performances in the Americas and APMEA, led by very strong growth in Snack applications with Kerry’s leading range of savoury taste profiles and Tastesense salt-reduction technologies,” the CEO said.
“From a capital allocation perspective, we continued to invest to support the organic development of our business, while also completing the Lactase enzymes business acquisition and progressing our share repurchase activity through the period,” he added.
Source: rte.ie