Glanbia on Wednesday morning announced to the stock market that it was reducing its profit guidance for the full year to 89-92c per share. It realised this would equate to a decline in earnings of 3-7%. Previously, Glanbia had been expected to grow earnings by 5-8% in 2019.

The profit warning comes after a weak set of quarter one numbers, particularly in its performance nutrition business, which had disappointed investors.

Since April shares have been trading downwards and fell under €14 on Tuesday, closing at €13.98. Almost €1.5bn has been wiped off the value of Glanbia since March when shares touched off €19 on announcement of the 2018 results.

Half-year results

Glanbia’s adjusted earnings per share for the first six months was 36.69c, down almost 11% on a constant currency basis. Its performance nutrition earnings fell 30.2%.

Revenues from its fully owned businesses were up, 12% to €1.76bn for the half-year.

Revenues in its performance nutrition business reported 13.4% growth, driven by the SlimFast acquisition. Its ingredients business increased revenues by 27%.

The company is mainly blaming geopolitical issues in certain markets such as Brazil and Mexico. It also called out challenges in the US market - its most important market.

In Europe, where there has been an acceleration from traditional distributors to online channels, the group reported challenges.

For full-year 2019, GPN expects like-for-like branded revenue to decline by low- to mid-single digits.