Carbery profits increase 5% to almost €33m

Carbery Group’s profits rose 5 per cent to almost €33 million last year, the food processor’s latest financial results state.

The Cork-based dairy business said on Wednesday that turnover in 2022 grew 31 per cent to €700.8 million from €535 million the previous year.

Operating profit, before tax and write-offs, grew 5 per cent last year to €32.8 million from €31.2 million in 2021.

Carbery calculated the profit after earmarking €10 million for a stability fund for its farmer-owned shareholders and paying a €3 million sustainability bonus to suppliers.

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The company processes milk to make cheese, including Dubliner and Carbery Cracker, and proteins used in food, drinks and infant, sport and clinical nutrition. It also has a flavours division.

Four co-ops, Bandon, Barryroe, Drinagh and Lisavaird, own the business, which employs 1,000 people across 12 locations in Ireland, Britain, US, Italy and Asia.

More than 1,200 farmers in Cork supply the group with the milk it processes.

Jason Hawkins, chief executive, said high costs for the company and for farmer shareholders balanced record returns from the sale of its products. He said that against this background, Carbery introduced its sustainability bonus and set aside €10 million to “support milk price challenges through 2023″.

Cormac O’Keeffe, chairman, dubbed 2022 a “banner year” for milk prices, which he said Carbery was happy to pay in line with shareholder expectations.

The volume of milk that Carbery processed dipped 2 per cent to 598 million litres last year, the group said on Wednesday.

The group noted that it had to manage inflation and rising energy costs in its cheese manufacturing business.

Carbery said its ingredients business had another strong performance in 2022.

Its flavours division did well against challenges that included global disruption caused by the war in Ukraine, soaring energy prices and ongoing fallout from the pandemic that has caused problems with supplies.

The group pledged to continue investing in its facilities and processes. It spent “significant” sums last year upgrading research and development in the US and on advanced plans to boost this activity in its Irish operations.