Glanbia, the Irish dairy and sports nutrition firm, reported a volume growth of 6.7% for the first nine months of the year from its wholly-owned operations.
Its wholly owned revenue from continuing operations also increased at constant currency by 3.7%, however, the weaker US Dollar-Euro exchange rate meant that on a reported basis it fell by 2.6% compared to last year.
Pricing declined by 4.1% largely as a result of lower year-on-year dairy markets which is also benefitting input costs and the group said it expects full-year margins in Glanbia Performance Nutrition (GPN) and Glanbia Nutritionals (GN) will be in line with prior year.
“We continue to execute our strategy and, in addition to growth in our core business, we recently announced the acquisition of SlimFast which will further enhance our portfolio,” Siobhán Talbot, group managing director, said.
She also reiterated Glanbia’s full-year guidance of 5% to 8% growth in adjusted earnings per share, constant currency, for the continuing Group in 2018.
Portfolio Performance
On a constant currency basis, GPN delivered revenue growth of 4.7% for the period, driven by volume growth of 6.7%, the Body & Fit acquisition delivering 2.4%, offset by a pricing decline of 4.4%.
Volume growth, it said, was broadly based and underpinned by successful innovation in key markets. The pricing decline reflected reinvestment of input cost savings in brand investment, foreign exchange headwinds, in certain non-US markets, and innovation support.
It’s GN business saw its revenue grow by 3% for the period, driven by a volume increase of 6.8% offset by a price decline of 3.8%.
Its Nutritional Solutions unit revenue increased by 0.7%, driven by volume growth of 7.3% as a result of a strong performance across all regions in the third quarter. Reduced year-on-year dairy prices drove its prices down by 6.6%.
After the period, on 11 October, Glanbia announced that it had acquired SlimFast and other brands from KSF Holdings LLP and HNS Intermediate Corporation for $350 million. SlimFast will be integrated into GPN.
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
