An exceptional charge of €90.5 million left food group Glanbia with a loss of €14.9 million at the end of 2003, but the company said yesterday that underlying growth was strong and signalled that it could look for acquisitions this year.

Turnover last year fell by 12 per cent to €2 billion from €2.3 billion in 2002. Improved margins boosted operating profits by 1.4 per cent to €92.8 million from €91.5 million. The group posted a pre-tax profit of €77.14 million for 2003, an increase of 7.4 per cent on €71.8 million the previous year. However, it took a net exceptional charge of €90.47 million against this.

Of that, Mr Moloney pointed out that €41.69 million had previously been written off against reserves, but revised accounting standards required it to be taken against the profit and loss account.

A further €33.88 million was attributable to a loss on the disposal of assets, including the sale of its UK meats businesses and a stake in Glanbia Foods UK. Another €14.90 million was made up of other costs, including the redundancies that resulted from a fire at its pig meat plant in Roosky, Co Roscommon. The group recorded an additional loss of €1.56 million that sprang from the sale of a farm in Britain. In total, these exceptionals left the company with a net pre-tax loss of €14.89 million, compared with €8.1 million in 2002.

Stripping out the exceptionals, 2003 earnings per share (EPS) rose 10.4 per cent to 19.26 cents. Losses per share after exceptionals came to 12.01 cents, 15 per cent more than 2002 losses of 10.06 cents. The board yesterday proposed a final dividend of 2.94 cents per share, bringing the full-year dividend to five cents per share, a 5 per cent increase on the 2002 payout of 4.76 cents.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Mr Moloney said the dollar's slide against sterling had cost the group €3 million in terms of operating profit. However, he said this was effectively cancelled out by the fact that Glanbia's US borrowings were cheaper than those denominated in euro. He also said the agenda for 2004 would include a drive for further acquisitions. Mr Moloney added that the company had a war chest in the region of €80-€90 million for this purpose.

The group's €140 million joint venture cheese and whey plant in New Mexico was on target for completion by the end of 2005, Mr Moloney said yesterday.