Fruit distributor Fyffes posted a 44 per cent jump in underlying earnings per share today and nudged up its earnings target for the full year.
The company said that following a strong performance in the second half of last year and significant cost inflation in the industry, it was targeting annual underlying EPS growth "in the high teens in percentage terms".
Fyffes, one of the five largest fresh produce distributors in the world, previously raised its earnings target in June, saying it was looking for mid-teens percentage growth.
The group posted first-half underlying EPS of 15.03 cents for the six months to the end of June, while pre-tax profit rose 17.6 per cent to €69.3 million, and revenue grew nearly 18 per cent to €1.1 billion.
Non-underlying EPS rose 6.3 per cent to 14.32 cents. The company declared an interim dividend of 1.69 cents per share, an increase of 10.5 percent on the same period last year.
Fyffes said trading in July and August had been satisfactory.