Updated / Tuesday, 18 Feb 2025 07:49
Food technology and ingredients company Kerry Group has reported revenues of €8 billion for 2024 and said it remains well positioned for a strong market outperformance this year.
Kerry said its profit after tax for the year came to €673m, down from €728m in 2023, while it has declared a final dividend of 89 cent per share.
Its total dividend for 2024 is up 10.1% to 127.1 cent.
Kerry said that while a number of its markets remained subdued, 2024 represented a more “normalised” year relative to recent history.
“Customer innovation activity was more weighted towards renovation of existing products, with an increased focus on nutritional profile enhancement and cost optimisation,” it said.
“A significant level of new product innovation concentrated on addressing increased consumer demand for new taste experiences and providing relative value options,” it added.
Kerry said that revenues at its Taste & Nutrition division rose by 3.4% to €6.929 billion, while EBITDA was up 5.9% to €1.256 billion with continued progression during the year.
It noted that foodservice performed strongly with volume growth of 6.8%, supported by new menu innovations, seasonal products and solutions designed to reduce operational costs and simplify processes, while growth in the retail channel of 1.8% reflected good performances in the Americas and APMEA.
“The year’s growth was led by innovations incorporating Kerry’s broad range of taste and proactive health technologies. Proactive health also delivered excellent growth, most notably in technologies for digestive, cognitive and women’s health,” it added.
Business volumes in emerging markets increased by 6.5%, with good growth across the Middle East, Africa, LATAM and Southeast Asia.
Meanwhile, revenue at its Dairy Ireland division was up 1.6% to €1.315 billion, with EBITDA up 17.6% to €63m on the back of Dairy Consumer Products’ growth and mix development, combined with a
recovery in Dairy Ingredients.
As previously announced, the transaction for the initial disposal of 70% of Kerry Dairy Ireland by Kerry Group to Kerry Co-Operative Creameries Limited completed at the end of the year.
Edmond Scanlon, Kerry’s chief executive, said the company’s strong performance across the year reflected continued volume progression in Taste & Nutrition and strong margin expansion across the business.
“We continued to strategically evolve our portfolio, including further developing our Biotechnology Solutions capability and the significant divestment of Kerry Dairy Ireland, which resulted in Kerry becoming a pure-play taste and nutrition company,” he said.
“As we look to 2025, Kerry remains strongly positioned for good market outperformance due to our unique positioning with our customers as an innovation and renovation partner,” the CEO said.
“We expect to deliver good volume growth and strong margin expansion, resulting in constant currency adjusted earnings per share growth of 7% to 11%, after the dilution from the Kerry Dairy Ireland disposal,” he added.
