Kerry Group reported an increase in revenue of 13.3% to €4.1 billion in the first six months of the year, despite inflationary challenges and geopolitical volatility.
The group said it reflects a volume increase of 6.8% and a favourable transaction currency impact of 0.1% and contribution from acquisitions of 4.7%.
Operating cashflow declined from €248m to €132m, largely due to a working capital investment of €278m.
Group EBITDA increased by 13.1% to €518 million with EBITDA margin maintained at 12.8%, primarily driven by the benefits from operating leverage, mix, efficiencies and portfolio development.
The interim dividend of 31.4 cent per share reflects an increase of 10.2% from the prior year interim dividend.
Edmond Scanlon, Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are pleased with our overall performance and business momentum across the first half of the year despite inflationary challenges and geopolitical volatility in places, in what remains a highly dynamic marketplace."
Mr Scanlon said volume growth was very strong in both retail and foodservice channels, driven by an increased level of innovation activity. This growth was broad-based across regions, led by excellent performances in Beverage, Meat and Bakery end use markets in particular.
"We continued to make good progress in actively managing the unprecedented inflationary environment in conjunction with our customers, as we support them in developing their offerings to meet the rapidly evolving marketplace. We also made good strategic progress by expanding our footprint and completing a number of strategic acquisitions in the period" he said.
