Glanbia shares rallied by more than 12% after the company released financial results for the first half of the year and increased its earnings forecast for 2025.

The company upgraded its full-year guidance to (US$)130c to (US$)133c per share and announced an interim dividend of (€)17.2c/share.

Paul Duffy, currently a non-executive director on the board of Glanbia, has been selected to take over from Donard Gaynor as chair of the company from 1 January next.

ADVERTISEMENT

The company said that it continued to expect growth in its dairy nutrition division due to strong dairy markets. From 1 July, the dairy nutrition division has been run as a stand-alone business, with its own management in place.

Key performance

The key performance nutrition division, which includes the Optimum Nutrition brand, saw a slight decline in revenue. The high cost of whey, which had been flagged by the company in March, meant that earnings margin dropped to 12.7% from 17.7% a year earlier.

Commenting on the results, CEO Hugh McGuire said: “Today's results reflect a first half of significant execution and progress as we generated 6% revenue growth in the period, underpinned by strong growth in health and nutrition and dairy nutrition and a sequential improvement in performance nutrition through the period as the group navigated significant macroeconomic volatility.”

Glanbia’s share buyback programme continues, with another €50m programme expected to start before the end of the year once the current €50m programme completes.

See this week’s Irish Farmers Journal for more analysis of Glanbia’s half-year results.