Kerry Group will announce its half-year results at lunchtime today (Thursday).

Q1 sales volumes for its consumer foods division remained subdued at -0.1% year on year. The highly competitive and fragmented UK/Irish retail market, coupled with reduced consumer spending, is creating challenges for the division.

Having already offloaded Freshways earlier this year, the division accounts for only about a quarter of Kerry’s sales, and with margins trailing 58% below the ingredients division (12.9%) it looks increasingly likely that further underperforming non-core business may be held for sale.

Yesterday, rival company International Flavours and Flagrances missed its revenue estimates for Q2, blaming a challenged North American market. It will be interesting to see if these challenges are company specific or more market-based.