A full six-month contribution from its French acquisition, Groupe Hubert, allied to strong growth in the US helped IAWS to lift its first-half profits by nearly 23 per cent.

The food group, which manufactures the Cuisine de France range of baked goods, posted pretax profits of €49.4 million in the six months to the end of January on sales of €715 million, a rise of 13 per cent.

"Strong underlying growth was evident across all food markets, particularly in the US, where a strong performance was delivered on the back of increased investment in production capacity," chief executive Owen Killian said.

The company will pay an interim dividend of 6.71 cent per share, an increase of 15 per cent cent on last year. Although the results were broadly in line with expectations, shares in IAWS slipped by 10 cent to €14.15.

Operating profit in the US rose by 33 per cent to €7 million while sales were up by 24 per cent to €64.6 million as the company expanded production capacity at its La Brea Bakery in New Jersey.

A €50 million expansion involving the commissioning of new manufacturing lines began in the first half, bringing total investment at the New Jersey site to more than €100 million.

In Europe food sales rose by 24 per cent to €421 million as profits increased by 40 per cent to €33.9 million, largely driven by the inclusion of Groupe Hubert for the full six-month period.

IAWS, whose food brands include the Shamrock and Roma labels, said the introduction of new products helped drive growth. The company is also looking at options for developing a new centralised facility to accommodate its food and baked goods business and its research and development functions .

A number of locations have been identified and a decision will be made before the end of July, Mr Killian said, adding the project would involve an investment of more than €100 million.

The company's agribusiness division did not enjoy the same growth as the food division although its performance stabilised and was broadly similar to the first half of last year. Nonetheless, operating profits fell by 16 per cent to €5.1 million, mainly due to a business disposal, while sales were down by 4 per cent to €229 million. IAWS noted that it remained a highly seasonal business with around 80 per cent of profits coming through in the second half of the year.