Glanbia revenue declines as dairy market pressure sees prices fall despite higher volumes

Listed Irish food group Glanbia said revenue fell more than 5 per cent in the first quarter of the year, as prices declined almost 7 per cent.

The dip in prices was largely driven by a fall in dairy market pricing, Glanbia said. But the first quarter outcome was in line with expectations, with volumes growing 1.5 per cent during the period.

In an interim management statement for the three-month period to March 30th, Glanbia said revenue from its wholly-owned units fell 5.4 per cent year on year as prices eased by 6.9 per cent.

Glanbia Performance Nutrition (GPN) saw like-for-like revenue decline almost 1.9 per cent in the first quarter, with a volume growth of 1.4 per cent offsetting a 3.3 per cent drop in prices that the company attributed largely to promotional activity.

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In its Americas unit, GPN revenue declined by 5.1 per cent, with growth in performance nutrition and lifestyle offset by a decline in weight management. Revenue in the international division was up 4.7 per cent, with good volume growth.

Glanbia Nutrionals revenue was down 8.5 per cent, as prices declined 10.2 per cent and volumes rose 1.7 per cent.

Revenue in Glanbia Nutritional Solutions (NS) was down 1.7 per cent on a like for like basis, with volumes up 3.8 per cent but offset by a price decline of 5.5 per cent.

Chief executive Hugh McGuire said the company delivered a good performance in the opening quarter of the year, with strong demand for its Better Nutrition brands driving growth.

“Consistent with our strategy to acquire complementary businesses to grow our Better Nutrition platforms, we recently completed the acquisition of Flavor Producers. 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,” he said.

“With the first quarter having progressed as planned, we reiterate our full year guidance of 5 per cent to 8 per cent growth in adjusted earnings per share, which will be driven by a strong operating performance across both GPN and NS.”

Glanbia is also undertaking a €100 million share buyback, with almost €30 million of the initial €50 million tranche already acquired in the year to date.

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