Dairy firm Glanbia has posted a 10.2% increase in pro-forma adjusted earnings per share for full-year 2017, its eighth year of double digit earnings growth.
Revenue was up 9.2% at constant currency levels, to €2.38 billion, while EBITA was up 5.8% to €283.2 million.
EBITA margin was down by 30 basis points to 11.9%.
Commenting on the group’s performance, Siobhan Talbot, Glanbia’s group managing director, said that the business posted “good volume growth” across all its segments; Glanbia Performance Nutrition (GPN), Glanbia Nutritionals (GN) and Joint Ventures (JV).
Strategic Evolution
“The strategic evolution of the Group portfolio continued in 2017 with the acquisition of two highly complementary businesses to the GPN portfolio, Amazing Grass and Body & Fit as well as the disposal of 60% of Dairy Ireland and the subsequent creation of the Glanbia Ireland JV,” Talbot said.
“These initiatives demonstrate the ambition of the Group to build on its existing strengths, drive future sustainable growth and deliver on our vision to be one of the world’s top performing nutrition companies. Our focus in 2018 will be on volume driven revenue growth across our wholly owned growth platforms of GPN and GN.”
Division Performance
The dairy firm’s Glanbia Performance Nutrition business posted revenue growth of 13.7% at constant currency levels, with like-for-like branded growth of 6.3%.
Its Glanbia Nutritionals segment saw revenue growth rise by 5.4% at constant currency levels (3.4% reported), while its Joint Ventures saw its share of profits rise by €16.8 million.
The period saw the disposal of 60% of its Dairy Ireland segment, home to dairy brands such as milk brand Avonmore and cheese brand Kilmeaden, and the creation of a new joint venture, Glanbia Ireland.
This JV is owned 60% by the Society and 40% by Glanbia plc.
‘In creating Glanbia Ireland the shareholders have created a strong organisation with the ambition to leverage the benefits of the significant growth plans of the Irish dairy supply base and an ownership structure more aligned to the needs of that supply base,’ the company said.
Outlook For 2018
Looking ahead to the coming year, Talbot added that the outlook for 2018 is “positive”, with Glanbia set to deliver “between 5% to 8% growth in pro-forma adjusted Earnings Per Share on a constant currency basis.
“We expect growth to be delivered in the second half of 2018 as comparative dairy dynamics and planned investments will adversely affect performance in the first half of 2018.”
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
