Food group Kerry has announced that its chief executive Hugh Friel will retire at the end of this year. He will be replaced by Stan McCarthy, who currently heads the group's American ingredients business.
The announcement came as Kerry reported pre-tax profits of €132.5m for the first half of 2007, up from €125.3m in the same period last year.
This came despite a drop in sales to €2.33 billion, though the company says sales were up 5.6% when acquisitions, sell-offs and currency movements were stripped out.
Earnings per share increased by 7% to 58.5 cent and a 10.9% higher interim dividend of 6.1 cent has been declared.
A breakdown showed that sales in Kerry's food ingredients division rose by 4% to €1.6 billion while profits were up 5.8% to €130m. Consumer foods sales were €882m while trading profits grew by 6.6% to €56m.
Kerry said it expected to achieve 'solid organic growth' for the full year, despite challenges from higher costs and currency movements.
Shares in Kerry closed up €1.30 at €19.20 in Dublin this evening.
