Glanbia posts strong first half

Irish Glanbia, the international cheese and nutritional ingredients Group, has issued the trading statement for the six months ended, 28 June 2008, showing a good first half performance overall. All divisions performed broadly to expectations, as market conditions remained relatively positive.

Global dairy prices and demand are somewhat weaker when compared with the exceptional growth of 2007 but look set to remain above historical trends.
In the first six months of the year, Consumer Foods Ireland’s performance benefited from margin recovery, redressing the impact of significant raw material cost increases that were a feature of this business in the second half of 2007. Agribusiness delivered a satisfactory result, notwithstanding the effects of record increases in the price of feed and fertiliser input costs. Against a backdrop of ongoing rationalisation and cost reduction, Agribusiness is forecast to deliver a stable performance for the full year.
Food Ingredients Ireland had a better performance in the first six months of the year compared with the same period in 2007 and the US branch continued to grow as a result of positive demand and Nutritionals experienced good organic growth.
International joint ventures recovered well in the first half of the year and delivered significantly improved performances. For the full year, the time lag between market price and milk price movements is expected to result in a weaker margin in Food Ingredients Ireland compared with 2007.