Tropical fruits firm Fyffes today gave a lift to earnings forecasts after benefiting from higher selling prices and favourable exchange rates.
The Dublin-based distributor said it was on course for underlying earnings of €17 million in 2007, an improvement on its downgraded guidance of €15 million flagged at half-year results in September.
Fyffes - which employs more than 3,600 people across the Ireland, Britain and countries such as as Costa Rica - had warned in May that price pressures were affecting performance.
However, it said today that it had offset fuel prices through currency fluctuations and higher average selling prices in the second half of the year.
Despite further significant inflation in shipping and fuel, Fyffes said it anticipated a mid-single digit increase in underlying earnings for 2008.
It is also sticking by its medium-term strategy to double the size of its business in the five years ending 2011, with 75 per cent of this growth coming from acquisitions.
Fyffes also reported progress towards its organic growth target during 2007, following a 15 per cent increase in core European banana volumes in the year.
PA