Global nutrition group Glanbia has reported earnings before tax and exceptional items of €176.5m for the first half of its financial year to 2 July, an increase of more than 11% on the same period in 2015.
The company has also reiterated its guidance for full year growth in earnings per share of 8% to 10%.
Group revenue was just below €1.84 billion – down around 2% on the same period last year.
The earnings were driven by a very strong performance in its performance nutrition business, where pre-tax earnings were up around 35% on the prior half year.
The group's Glanbia Performance Nutrition saw a 34.6% rise in pre-tax profits to €81.7m.
Commenting on the H1 results, Group Managing Director Siobhán Talbot said: “Glanbia delivered a strong performance in the first six months of 2016 driven by Glanbia Performance Nutrition.
She added sales of performance nutrition brands and value-added nutritional ingredients "showed good growth in the first half of 2016 delivering on our vision to be a leading nutrition business".
However, Ms Talbot said global dairy markets "remain weak and continue to be a challenge for parts of the business".
In Dublin, shares in Glanbia were 2.7% higher at €18 by the close of business.
