Food group Glanbia has said that trading is in line with its expectations in the first nine months of the year.
In an interim management statement, the company said that it expects the trend to continue for the rest of the year. It shares close 2.6% higher in Dublin trade.
The company said that its total group revenue grew by 14% in the nine months to October 5 compared to the same time last year.
''The 2013 outlook for Glanbia is positive,'' the company said in today's statement. It said it expects to see about 10% growth in adjusted earnings per share on a constant currency basis.
However, it also cautioned that its Dairy Ireland business continues to be challenging due to "underperformance" in its consumer products business.
Glanbia said that milk input costs rose to record high levels and the Irish retail environment continues to be difficult.
The division recently announced a further phase of rationalisation to improve its competitiveness in the domestic market, including a redesign of its supply network and restructuring of head office functions.
''The reorganisation programme will not have a direct impact on performance in the current year and therefore results for Consumer Products for 2013 are expected to be significantly below 2012,'' the company said in today's trading statement.
Glanbia said its Global Ingredients business delivered a good performance in the first nine months of the year, with revenues up by 14%. "The full year outlook for Global Ingredients is positive," the company stated.
Revenues at Glanbia's Global Performance Nutrition division rose by 19%, mainly due to volume growth. The company said that the division's growth continues to outperform market growth rates in the US and internationally.
"Across the group we have a range of strategic capital investments, cost initiatives and rationalisation programmes underway, which are helping to enhance our future growth and expansion prospects. We expect to deliver 2013 adjusted earnings per share growth of circa 10%, on a constant currency basis, which is at the upper end of previous guidance," said Glanbia's group managing director John Moloney.
