Glanbia, the Ireland-based dairy and nutrition group, said today (13 January) that full-year earnings climbed 17% during 2008 – but warned of a “very challenging” year ahead.
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In a trading update issued this morning, Glanbia said annual adjusted earnings per share had grown 17% last year.
Only Glanbia’s Irish food ingredients missed expectations, the company said. The “steep decline” in global dairy prices hit the unit, the company said.
The fall in global dairy prices weighed on the performance of Glanbia’s international business as a whole, despite a “strong performance” from its US food ingredients business and nutritionals units.
“Overall for the full year the performance of the International division will be broadly in line with 2007,” Glanbia said.
Elsewhere, Glanbia’s Irish division, which includes its consumer foods and agribusiness units, “traded well…despite a challenging market environment”, the company said.
MD John Moloney said he was “very pleased” with the company’s earnings performance for 2008.
“This represents a good performance given the decline in global dairy markets and weakening consumer sentiment,” Moloney said.
However, he added: “2009 is set to be a very challenging year given the severe impact of the ongoing economic and financial turmoil on both developed and emerging economies. In the context of the current unprecedented financial, dairy market and economic uncertainties we are very cautious at this early stage of the year, however, we remain focused on achieving the market consensus earnings growth for 2009.”
