Kerry Group PLC’s profit for the first half rose 12.2% to €117.4 million and the company said it’s confident it will achieve its growth targets for the full year.
The company's total revenue rose 1.1% to €2.9 billion. Like-for-like (LFL) revenue growth was 0.6%. In its ingredients and flavors business, revenue rose 4.1% to €2.16 billion during the first half, reflecting 2.9% LFL growth.
In the Americas, revenue increased by 6.2% on a reported basis to €931 million, reflecting 4.5% LFL growth. In the Europe, Middle East Africa region, revenue fell 2.8% to €798 million reflecting a decrease of 1.2%. In Asia-Pacific, revenue rose 15.4% to €394 million, reflecting 8.7% LFL growth.
Beverage systems and flavors showed good growth in all of Kerry’s market regions; savory, dairy and culinary systems performed satisfactorily in the Americas and had strong growth in Asia-Pacific; cereal systems were hurt by poor retail sales amid a competitive marketplace in the Americas but showed strong growth in the EMEA region; sweet systems recorded satisfactory progress in the Americas, maintained good growth in EMEA and made progress in Asia Pacific.
For the full year, the company expects to have 7% to 11% growth in adjusted earnings per share to a range of 250 to 260 cent per share.