The Irish-headquartered company said it delivered a performance ahead of expectations in the first half of 2021 as strong revenue growth and margin improvements delivered adjusted earnings per share (EPS) growth of 85% on a constant currency basis (up 70.2% reported).
The group also delivered strong cash conversion in the period which has funded capital allocation towards an acquisition, increased dividend and a further share buyback program. Full-year guidance is for adjusted EPS growth of 17% to 22% (constant currency) versus the prior year.
Wholly-owned revenues of €2.042bn/$2.4bn (HY 2020: €1.837bn/$2.17bn), was up 20.3% constant currency on prior half year (up 11.2% reported).
Glanbia Performance Nutrition (GPN) delivered revenue growth of 28.1% constant currency on prior half year (up 19.9% reported), while Glanbia Nutritionals (GN), Nutritional Solutions (NS) delivered like-for-like volume growth of 14.9% constant currency on prior half year.
GPN delivered EBITA pre-exceptional of €90.2m ($106.3m), up 418.4% constant currency on the prior half year driven by strong revenue growth and margin improvement, while GN delivered EBITA pre-exceptional of €69.7m ($82.1m), up 17.1% constant currency on prior half year (up 6.6% reported) driven by a strong performance in NS.
Joint Ventures delivered pre-exceptional share of profit after tax of €29.9m ($35.2m), down €1.9m ($2.2m) on the previous half year; and adjusted EPS of 52.86 cent was an increase of 85% constant currency.
Exceptional items in the first half of 2021 resulted in a charge of €52.2m ($61.5m) related to the GPN transformation program and legacy pension scheme restructuring; while the net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of 1.51 times is a reduction on the prior year due to strong cash flow.
An acquisition was completed in H1 2021 – a 60% stake in LevlUp, a European direct-to-consumer (DTC) gaming nutrition brand.
An interim dividend of 11.75 cent per share has been recommended by the board, an increase of 10.0% on prior year; and the launch of a new share buyback program of up to €50m ($58.9m) was announced.
Siobhán Talbot, group managing director, said, “I am delighted to announce that Glanbia has delivered a very strong performance in the first half of 2021 when compared to the prior year. The dedication of our people, supply chain partners and customers as we navigated the pandemic together, has positioned Glanbia well on its growth agenda.
“The Glanbia team has navigated the pandemic well to date keeping a clear focus on both tactical activity and key strategic initiatives. While the group remains vigilant to the continued volatile and disruptive potential of the Covid-19 pandemic, this focused approach gives us the confidence to guide to delivery of full year 2021 adjusted EPS growth of 17% to 22% on a constant currency basis versus the prior year.
“Our compelling belief has always been that consumers increasing focus on health and wellbeing positions Glanbia well for the future, given our portfolio of nutrition brands and ingredient solutions. Our focused actions to drive demand coupled with the consumer response to market reopenings in the first half of 2021 has strengthened our belief that these trends will continue to deliver long-term growth for Glanbia.”
