Glanbia’s first-half profits down

The group managing director of Glanbia has put the company’s first half drop in sales down to an “unprecedented trading environment”.

The Irish-based cheese and nutritional ingredients group posted a 28 per cent fall in profits for the first six months of the year, but expects the pace of the decline to ease over the remainder of the year.

Glanbia posted a pre tax profit of €38 million, down from €53.1m a year earlier.

“A growing contribution from higher margin businesses and a strategic cost reduction programme have enabled us to counter balance unprecedented market circumstances and deliver a reasonable set of results despite a substantial first time loss in Irish Dairy Ingredients,” comments John Moloney, Glanbia group managing director.

“It has been, without doubt, a difficult six months. The sustained downturn in the global economy led to weakening consumer confidence. In addition, international dairy prices were sharply down on 2008 resulting in a dramatic reduction in dairy product returns and US cheese prices reached historic lows.”

The company’s net debt stands at €546.5m which is up €250.2m from last year.

Despite the results, Moloney is keeping a positive outlook. “We are pleased with the excellent operational performance throughout the group and the success to date of a major cost saving programme,” he adds. “We remain confident in the businesses that are central to our growth strategy.”