Kerry Group was able to grow volumes at its consumer foods unit during the first nine months of the year but pricing was forced down in an environment where the Irish food group said retailers remain firmly focused on price.
Kerry's consumer foods business reported a 2.6% increase in volumes for the nine months to 30 September. However, pricing was 2.4% lower year-on-year, the company revealed in a trading update this morning (3 November). Kerry has repositioned its consumer foods portfolio, which consists of brands in the UK and Ireland, to focus on higher margin products. This coupled with Kerry's efforts to improve efficiency enabled the group to strengthen consumer foods margins by 20 basis points.
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Kerry said: "While the Irish and UK consumer foods' markets remain highly competitive with increased retailer focus on EDLP, the repositioned Kerry Foods portfolio performed well against this background."
On a group wide basis, including Kerry's faster-growth ingredients division, overall volumes were up by 3.2% in the period. Group trading margin rose 40 basis points in the nine-month period.
Kerry reaffirmed its outlook for a 6-9% rise in full-year earnings.
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