Interim Management Statement
May 05 2010 - 7:01AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMKYGA
RNS Number : 3734L
Kerry Group PLC
05 May 2010
05 May 2010
Interim Management Statement: Kerry Annual General Meeting 2010
05 May 2010 - Kerry Group, the global ingredients & flavours and consumer foods
group, issues the following Interim Management Statement for the first quarter
ended 31 March 2010. This statement is issued in conjunction with the Group's
Annual General Meeting which is being held today.
Business PERFORMANCE
Business performance throughout Kerry's end-use markets continued to improve in
the first quarter of 2010, with the exception of the Group's consumer foods'
business in Ireland. Reported revenues increased by 5.9%, reflecting
like-for-like (LFL) growth of 1% when account is taken of a net 3.4% gain from
acquisitions/disposals and a 1.6% reported currency adjustment. Continuing
business volumes on a Group-wide basis grew by 5.1% when account is taken of 2%
lower pricing/mix, -0.2% trading currency movement and 1.9% rationalisation
volume elimination. Continuing business volumes were 5.2% ahead in ingredients &
flavours and despite the downturn in the Irish market were ahead by 3.3% across
the Group's consumer foods' business.
The positive momentum in business margin growth was maintained in the period,
with the Group trading profit margin improved by 50 basis points - reflecting a
70 basis points improvement in ingredients & flavours and a 40 basis points
improvement in consumer foods relative to Q1 2009.
BUSINESS REVIEWS
INGREDIENTS & FLAVOURS
The Group's ingredients & flavours businesses continued to benefit from Kerry's
strong customer alliances and innovation pipeline which contributed strongly to
the 5.2% growth in continuing business volumes and 70 basis points improvement
in divisional trading profit margin.
The Americas Region recorded good progress across all technology platforms and
achieved 5% growth in continuing business volumes. Savoury & dairy applications
grew strongly, with good progress again recorded through 'clean label'
solutions. Cereal & sweet applications recovered well relative to the same
period of 2009 with good efficiencies across the restructured operating
facilities. Beverage flavours recorded good growth. Fermented ingredients and
functional ingredients performed well.
The EMEA Region showed a good recovery relative to Q1 2009 with continuing
business volumes improved by 4.7%. Savoury & dairy applications benefited from
the significant market improvement in the primary dairy sector and through good
growth in culinary applications. Cereal & sweet applications grew as budgeted
and benefited from the restructuring of the Group's French fruit ingredients
business. Beverage systems and flavours grew satisfactorily. Market growth
across all applications was lower than expected in Eastern European markets.
In Asia-Pacific markets Kerry continued to achieve excellent results with
continuing business volume growth of 13.5% relative to Q1 2009. All regional
technology platforms performed well with strong growth in meat, culinary,
bakery, nutritional and beverage applications. Functional ingredients grew
strongly, with increased output from the Esterol emulsifier facility.
Consumer foods
The Group's consumer foods division performed well despite the prevailing market
conditions in Ireland. Continuing business volumes grew by 3.3% and the
divisional trading profit margin improved by 40 basis points relative to Q1
2009.
In the UK market Kerry Foods' branded business continued to achieve strong
category growth, with Richmond performing very well in the sausage sector and
Walls' pastry continuing to make good progress. Chilled ready meals outperformed
market growth rates and good growth was also achieved through ready-to-cook
offerings. Exports of frozen ready meals from Ireland to the UK market declined
due to competitive issues arising from the sterling/euro exchange rate and the
level of promotional activity in the UK market. Cheese and spreads performed
well during the period but category profitability will be impacted by higher
input costs in 2010.
The deflationary market environment in Ireland continued to negatively impact
all branded consumer food categories in the Irish market. Heavily promoted
private label and discounter offerings again grew at the expense of leading
brands. However Kerry Foods remains confident that its continuing investment
programme in repositioning the division's leading Irish brands will be
successful in meeting 'value-focused' consumer requirements.
financial review
Cash flow was ahead of the same period in 2009, while borrowings increased
slightly relative to the year-end position due to the impact of currency
translation rates.
Future prospects
As previously guided, the Group is confident of delivering earnings growth in
2010 to a range of 182 to 185 cent per share (2009: 166.5 cent).
- ends -
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Contacts: |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Media | Investor Relations |
| Frank Hayes, Director of | Brian Mehigan, Chief Financial |
| Corporate Affairs | Officer |
| Tel: +353 66 7182304 | Michael Ryan, Head of Investor |
| Email: | Relations |
| corpaffairs@kerry.ie | Tel: +353 66 718 2253 |
| Kerry Web Site: | Email: |
| www.kerrygroup.com | investorrelations@kerry.ie |
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
IMSSSAFSIFSSEII
Kerry (LSE:KYGA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Kerry (LSE:KYGA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024
