Revenues at global nutrition group Glanbia rose almost 37 per cent in the first nine months of the year as inflation drove prices higher.
In an interim management statement, the company said revenues on a constant currency basis were up 23.1 per cent, with pricing up almost 21 per cent. Volumes increased 0.8 per cent over the period, while acquisitions saw 1.4 per cent growth.
Its Glanbia Performance Nutrition (GPN) business saw like-for-like revenue growth of 14.4 per cent, driven by increased pricing. Volumes fell 1.2 per cent over the nine months.
Glanbia’s Nutritional Solutions division saw revenue grow 14.5 per cent on a like-for-like basis, with pricing up 17.7 per cent and volumes down 3.2 per cent due to timing-related factors in dairy ingredients.
Glanbia has spent €173.5 million on share buybacks in the year to date and said it would continue to assess the opportunity for share buybacks as part of its broader capital allocation policy.
Net debt at October 1st was €749.6 million, an increase of €160.6 million on the same period a year earlier, of which €91.9 million related to the stronger dollar. At the end of the third quarter, the group had €1.3 billion in committed debt facilities.
Group managing director Siobhán Talbot said the momentum outlined by Glanbia at its half-year point had been sustained through the third quarter.
“Consumption trends continue to be resilient across the performance nutrition and healthy lifestyle brand portfolios in GPN. Revenue growth was primarily driven by pricing actions in response to unprecedented inflation,” she said.
“The global macroeconomic environment continues to be challenging and we are monitoring consumption and inflation trends closely. The strength of our platforms in better nutrition, supported by the combination of pricing actions taken and operational efficiencies achieved, gives us continued confidence that we will deliver strong full-year Ebitda growth.”
The group updated earnings guidance for the full year to 10-13 per cent growth in adjusted earnings per share. Ms Talbot said based on current foreign exchange rates, reported adjusted EPS growth is expected to be 26-29 per cent.
