Global nutrition group Glanbia has reiterated its guidance for growth in earnings per share of 5-8% for 2024.
In an interim management trading statement ahead of its AGM in Kilkenny today, Glanbia said its first quarter performance had been in line with expectations.
It reported volume growth of 1.5%, which was offset by price decreases of 6.9% - driven mainly by dairy market pricing.
Glanbia said that resulted in its first quarter revenue declining by 5.5%.
Breaking down its divisions, the company said that revenue at the Glanbia Performance Nutrition unit decreased by 1.9% in the first three months of 2024. Volume growth of 1.4% was offset by a price decline of 3.3%, the company said.
It added that overall momentum continued during the first quarter, with Optimum Nutrition, Isopure and think! delivering good volume growth, which was partly offset by a decline in SlimFast.
Revenue declined by 8.8% in the Glanbia Nutritionals division, which was driven by a 1.7% increase in volume, a 10.2% decrease in price, and a decrease of 0.3% driven by the net impact of acquisitions and disposals.
Within this division, revenues at the Nutritional Solutions unit declined by 2.3% on the back of a 3.8% increase in volume, a 5.5% decrease in price, and a decrease of 0.6% from the net impact of acquisitions and disposals.
Meanwhile, US Cheese revenue declined by 14.3% in the period, with flat volumes and a 14.3% decline in pricing, which was aligned to the lower year-on-year cheese market pricing.
Glanbia completed its acquisition of US firm Flavor Producers for an initial consideration of $300m, with an additional potential deferred payment of up to $55m conditional on performance, in April.
As announced in February, Glanbia has started an initial €50m share buyback programme under a €100m share buyback authority.
Hugh McGuire, Glanbia's chief executive, said the company's good performance in the first quarter was driven by the continued strong global demand for its Better Nutrition brands and ingredients.
"Consistent with our strategy to acquire complementary businesses to grow our Better Nutrition platforms, we recently completed the acquisition of Flavor Producers," Mr McGuire said.
"This acquisition significantly expands our flavours offering and brings new capabilities in the attractive and growing natural and organic flavours market, aligned with long term consumer trends," the CEO said.
"With the first quarter having progressed as planned, we reiterate our full year guidance of 5% to 8% growth in adjusted earnings per share, which will be driven by a strong operating performance across both GPN and NS," he added.
