Kerry Group profits fall 6.5%
Kerry Group’s net profits have fallen 6.5% during the first half of the year to €222m as revenue grew by 0.3% to more than €3bn.
The group has indicated that it expects challenging conditions to remain in international trade during the second half of the year. The group now says that end-of-year earnings will be to the middle, or lower range of previous forecasts.
Business volumes grew by 3.2% in the period reflecting a strong performance in American markets, lower volume growth in the EMEA region, and strong business growth in Asia.
The Irish group did have a strong performance in the US, overall the company’s net pricing was 2.2% lower as raw material costs fell 4%.
Currency fluctuations had a 3.7% impact on revenues.
Kerry Group Chief Executive Stan McCarthy said: “Despite the challenging market landscape we delivered a solid financial performance in the first half of 2016, with continued margin expansion, strong cash generation and a 7.5% increase in adjusted earnings per share.
“While we are confident of delivering an underlying trading performance in the full year as previously guided; taking into account the increased currency headwinds of 5% at current exchange rates, growth in adjusted earnings per share in 2016 is expected to be towards the middle to lower end of the 6% to 10% range of 320 to 332 cent per share.”
