Glanbia announces $89m US deal as profits soar

KILKENNY-based food giant has reported a very strong finish to 2018.

Today the company confirmed it recorded a 9% growth in adjusted earnings per share to 91 cent in its results for last year.

This exceeded the company’s own growth expectations of between 5-8% growth.

Glanbia reported full year revenue growth of 9.5% to €1.18 billion and announced an increase in the full-year dividend of 10% to 24.2c per share.

It said all regions contributed to growth, with a particularly strong performance from international markets.

Mergers and acquisitions contributed 4.5%.

Glanbia also announced today that it has agreed to acquire Watson, a US based non-dairy ingredient solutions business, for US$89 million. Last November it completed the acquisition of SlimFast for US$350 million.

Glanbia Group Managing Director Siobhán Talbot said: “Watson is a non-dairy ingredient solutions business headquartered in Connecticut, USA.  It is a highly complementary addition to our Nutritional Solutions business and will help broaden our capabilities in the ingredients sector.”

Ms Talbot (pictured above) said the immediate future looks bright for the group.

She added: “The outlook for 2019 is positive and Glanbia expects to deliver 5% to 8% growth in adjusted earnings per share, constant currency.”