Company to sell 60% stake in Dairy Ireland to Irish co-op
Strong results reiterate Glanbia's nutrition focus; as firm announces Dairy Ireland spin-off
Glanbia has announced that it is to sell of 60% of its Dairy Ireland business unit to Glanbia Co‐operative Society Limited in a deal worth €112m. The firm said the potential deal reiterates its focus on performance nutrition, which was the primary driver of revenue growth and profit for Glanbia.
The Kilkenny-based business reported its seventh consecutive year of double digit earnings growth, with adjusted earnings per share up 11.2% on 2015 levels and EBITA from wholly owned business up 12.5% to €305.1 million. Operating profits were reported to be up more than 16% over the previous year.
Glanbia’s success comes on the back of strong performance in its performance nutrition business unit – an area that the company has repeatedly stated that it wants to develop and grow.
The firm saw revenues in performance nutrition soar by 9.7%, with EBITA growth of 19.9%. Meanwhile, growth in its dairy and nutrition business was slower, with revenues up by just 0.5% and an EBITA growth of 4.9%.
Growth in performance nutrition was a result of a volume increase of 5% in addition to the contribution of the recent acquisition of thinkThin. Glanbia said its volume growth in the business was broad based across all geographic regions with like‐for‐like branded volume growth of 6.1%.
It added that the planned acquisitions of Amazing Grass and Body & Fit – both expected to close early this year – will enable Glanbia Performance Nutrition to extend its reach to new consumers and channels, and will be marginally earnings accretive in 2017.
“These initiatives demonstrate a desire to play to our strategic strengths and are aligned to our vision to be one of the world’s top performing nutrition companies,” said group managing director, Siobhán Talbot, in the company’s annual financial statement.
Speaking in its annual results conference call, Talbot added that the firm planed to further develop direct to consumer offerings in the nutritional space – and bring greater focus on the lifestyle consumers.
