Aryzta posts 6.5% increase in quarterly revenues

Aryzta has reported overall revenues of more than €1 billion for the three months to the end of October, including a 6.5 per cent increase in food group revenues.

Buoyed by recent acquisitions and strong growth in Europe, food revenues at the company climbed to €796.3 million during the three-month period, which is the company’s first fiscal quarter.

According to a trading update issued by the bakery business yesterday, European food revenues increased by 17.6 per cent to €377.6 million.

Food North America revenue declined by 0.9 per cent in the first quarter to €364.2 million. While underlying revenue growth was 1.7 per cent, and acquisitions added 3.1 per cent, these were offset by a negative currency movement of 5.7 per cent.

Similarly, sales also fell in the rest of the world, down by 7.4 per cent to €54.5 million, as strong underlying growth was again offset by negative currency movements.

Potential consolidation
Chief executive Owen Killian said the company was "well placed" to take advantage of potential consolidation opportunities across the sector, adding that the September guidance for double-digit fully diluted EPS full-year growth remained "unchanged".

Referring to the group’s transformation programme, Mr Killian said that it remains on track to be “substantially” completed by the end of 2014.

“The development and execution of Aryzta’s customer-centric business model underpinned further expansion in underlying growth in all regions during the period,” he said.

Goodbody stockbrokers said the results represented a “solid performance” with the company continuing to deliver positive growth across all its regions including a more challenging Europe.

Tender offer
During September, Aryzta's subsidiary Origin Enterprises announced its intention to return up to €100 million of capital to shareholders by way of a tender offer.

This month, Aryzta participated in this offer by successfully tendering 9.7 million shares in exchange for €72.9 million, reducing its shareholding in Origin to 85.3 million shares.

Revenues at agri-services group Origin fell by 12.5 per cent in the first quarter of its financial year, down to €307.3 million.