Glanbia’s group managing director Siobhán Talbot is to retire this year, handing the reins over to Hugh McGuire.

The announcement comes as the company upgraded its full year (FY) guidance to between 12% and 15% growth for 2023.

It recorded a profit after tax of $193.4m (€177.02m) in the first half of 2023, up from $140.4m (€128.50m) in the same period last year.

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Group revenues of $2.8bn (€2.56bn) (HY 2022: $3.1 billion(€2.83bn)) represented a decrease of 10% constant currency (down 10.3% reported).

Announcing her retirement at 31 December 2023, Talbot said: “My colleague Hugh McGuire will be appointed CEO of Glanbia on 1 January 2024.

“I want to thank my colleagues right across the group for their hard work, commitment and friendship during my career with the company.

"I would like to wish Hugh well as he takes the helm in 2024 and I look forward to working with him on the leadership transition over the coming months.”

Performance

“I am pleased to report that Glanbia’s performance in the first half of the year was ahead of our expectations as the group successfully navigated some continuing volatility in global market conditions," Talbot said.

"This was driven by a strong operating performance, continued demand for our better nutrition brands and ingredients and the exceptional commitment of our people.

"We are upgrading our guidance for FY 2023, with adjusted earnings per share now expected to grow by between 12% and 15% on a constant currency basis."

She added that the earnings momentum in the first half of 2023 was driven by a good performance in Glanbia Performance Nutrition, "as growth in revenue, earnings and margin reflected a strong global performance for our flagship Optimum Nutrition brand".

Expectations

She said Glanbia Nutritional’s first half performance was "in line with expectations, as customer supply chain rebalancing trends reduced volumes, with progressive improvements in demand trends as the period progressed which we expect to continue into the second half of the year".

Talbot added that Glanbia's strategy "is on track as we continue to reshape and simplify our portfolio, invest to sustain consumer and customer relevance, drive margin improvement and deliver strong operating returns and cash conversion".

"The interim dividend is raised by 10% and €64.5m was returned in the period via share buybacks.

"As we look to the second half of the year, we believe that the combination of market opportunity and our strong operating capabilities set us up for sustained delivery of future growth."

More to follow.