5 March 2008 - Glanbia plc ('Glanbia'), the international cheese and nutritional ingredients Group, announces its full year results for the year ended 29 December 2007.
2007 Results Summary
* Growth strategy delivering
* Excellent year with strong set of results
* Focus on growth markets in cheese and nutritional ingredients
* On target for double digit growth in 2008
Revenue(1) Euro2,206.6 m Euro1,853.4 m Up 19%
Operating profit pre exceptional Euro115.8 m Euro85.6 m Up 35%
Operating margin pre exceptional 5.2% 4.6% Up 60 bps
Net financing costs (Euro17.3 m) (Euro14.0 m) Up Euro3.3 m
Share of results of joint ventures and
associates(1) Euro1.0 m Euro2.8 m Down Euro1.8m
Profit before tax pre exceptional Euro99.5 m Euro74.4 m Up 34%
Profit after tax pre exceptional Euro83.1 m Euro66.4 m Up 25%
Exceptional items(2) (Euro22.8 m) (Euro0.1 m) See note
Earnings per share 20.4 c 22.5 c Down 9%
Adjusted earnings per share(3) 28.2 c 22.6 c Up 25%
Dividend per share in respect of the year 6.08 c 5.79 c Up 5%
Net debt Euro220.2 m Euro224.5 m Down 2%
1) Revenue including Glanbia's share of the revenue of joint ventures and associates was Euro2.6 billion in 2007, up 22% on 2006. Share of results of joint ventures and associates is an after interest and tax amount.
(2) On 3 March 2008 Glanbia announced the sale of the Pigmeat business in a Management Buy Out. This disposal is consistent with the Group's strategy of focusing on key growth areas of cheese and nutritional ingredients. The exit from Pigmeat resulted in a net exceptional charge in the year of Euro20.4 million. Restructuring costs relating to Yoplait production facilities in Consumer Foods Ireland were Euro2.4 million during the year.
(3) Before exceptional items.
John Moloney, Group Managing Director, said:
'Glanbia had an excellent year in 2007. Operating profit pre exceptional rose 35% to Euro115.8 million and adjusted earnings per share were up 25% to 28.2 cent. These results reflect the benefits of the strategic investment programmes implemented over recent years and the Group's spread of businesses, against a backdrop of positive global dairy markets. The driver was the strong performance of our largest division, Food Ingredients & Nutritionals. This division delivered with good volumes, improvements in operational efficiency and solid growth in margins.
Overall, our growth strategy is delivering. We are confident of another good performance this year and the Group is on target for double digit growth in 2008. More importantly, Glanbia continues to successfully develop a strategic international presence in cheese and nutritional ingredients. This, together with strong Irish operations, is positive for sustained high growth into the future.'
2007 Results
Results for the year ended 29 December 2007
Growth strategy
Glanbia's vision is to be a world leader in international cheese and nutritional ingredients. Realisation of this vision is through a clear growth strategy, which has transformed the Group in recent years and created a good spread of Irish and international businesses in key markets and sectors.
Since 2004, Glanbia has invested significantly to support its growth strategy with Euro293 million invested in acquisition and development capital expenditure. During the same period the Group's portfolio of businesses has been reshaped with disposals releasing Euro200 million for investment into higher growth areas. The main focus has been on growing international operations, with over 90% of the investment allocated to this segment in 2006 and 2007.
Operations review
Glanbia has a strong position in key food markets and sectors around the world and an ongoing investment programme will expand operations in Ireland, China, Nigeria and the USA further in 2008. Glanbia employs 4,000 people across three divisions and eight business units, in 2007 the Group was supplied by over 5,500 dairy farmers and processed 4.1 billion litres of milk. Glanbia produced over 400,000 tonnes of cheese and 260,000 tonnes of ingredients for customers on five continents.
The Group operates in the Irish market through the Consumer Foods and the Agribusiness & Property businesses. International markets are serviced by the Food Ingredients & Nutritionals division and international joint ventures. Food Ingredients Ireland is included in international activities as its products are sold to international customers.
In 2007, including the Group's share of joint ventures and associates, Ireland accounted for 34% of revenue and 26% of pre exceptional operating profit, while international markets accounted for 66% of revenue and 74% of pre exceptional operating profit.