Food technology and ingredients company Kerry has reported lower revenues for the year to the end of December amid varying market dynamics across its regions.
Kerry said its group revenues fell by 8.6% to €8.020 billion from €8.772 billion in 2022 on the back of the unfavourable impact of disposals and foreign currency, while EBITDA for the year slowed by 4.2% to €1.165 billion from €1.216 billion.
The company said its profit after tax for the year rose to €728.1m from €606.5m.
The Kerry Board had proposed a final dividend of 80.8 cent per share, an increase of 10.1% on the final 2022 dividend.
Along with the interim dividend of 34.6 cent per share, this brings the total dividend for the year to 115.4 cent, an increase of 10.1% on 2022.
Edmond Scanlon, Kerry's chief executive, said the company's Taste & Nutrition volume growth represented an outperformance of its markets, adding that Dairy Ireland's performance reflected
challenging market conditions across the year.
"APMEA and Europe achieved good volume growth led by a strong performance in the foodservice channel, while volumes in North America were impacted by stocking dynamics and softer market conditions," he added.
The CEO said that during the year Kerry continued to invest capital and develop its business aligned to its strategic priorities.
"This included the expansion of our taste capabilities and footprint across our regions, further development of our nutrition portfolio, and broadening our emerging markets presence," he said.
" This progress builds on our significant recent strategic portfolio developments and geographical expansion, strongly positioning Kerry for market outperformance and good margin progression in the coming years.
"As we begin 2024, Kerry's innovation pipeline is strong, though overall consumer market volumes remain relatively muted, which is reflected in our guidance for the year of 5% to 8% adjusted earnings per share growth in constant currency," Mr Scanlon added.
Breaking down its divisions, Kerry said that revenues in its Taste & Nutrition unit rose by 1.1% to €6.975 billion amid industry destocking ad pricing dynamics.
Kerry said that overall volumes in the Americans regions fell by 1.8% while reported revenues came to €3.772 billion after softer than expected market conditions, which continued to be a feature to the end of the year.
But volumes rose by 2.9% in the Europe region with dairy, snacks and meals performing very well. Reported revenue in Europe came to €1.517 billion, with Kerry noting that growth in Europe was led by strong performances in Ireland and the UK.
Volumes in the APMEA region were up 6.2% on the back of growth in bakery, meat and meals. Reported revenue came to €1.647m with growth led by a strong performance in the Middle East across the year.
Meanwhile, revenue at its Dairy Ireland division fell by 6.5% to €1.283 billion on the back of a challenging market environment ad constrained supply conditions.
"Within Dairy Ingredients, performance was impacted by the sharp fall in dairy market sales prices particularly across the middle part of the year. Dairy Consumer Products performed well given the market context, supported by good growth in branded cheese," the company added.
Kerry Group CEO Edmond Scanlon said today that he has not yet seen any impact "of note" from the disruption to global shipping caused by the attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.
He noted that some containers have been rerouted from the US east coast to the west coast, which added a number of weeks to Kerry's overall supply chain.
Costs have been slightly elevated as well, the CEO said, but added that these are all things the company can manage in the normal course of business.
On its Dublin listing, the Kerry Group chief said the company has evaluated all of its options, but said that "right now we feel our Irish listing has served us well and we have no plans to change".
Several big Irish firms have left from the Dublin Stock Exchange in recent months, including CRH and Flutter Entertainment. Smurfit Kappa is also due to delist from Dublin as part of an $11 billion swoop on US firm WestRock.
Shares in Kerry Group were lower in Dublin trade today.
