Glanbia, the producer of a third of Ireland's milk and cheese, said profit is meeting analysts' estimates in 2008 after a "strong" first half for its food-ingredients and nutrition business.
Kilkenny, Ireland-based Glanbia expects a "satisfactory" first-half performance from its consumer foods unit, after passing on "significant" increases in raw material costs, the company said today in a statement.
Glanbia has spent almost €300 million ($464 million) since 2004 to reshape its business, much of that to build up the food-ingredients and nutrition unit that generates close to two-thirds of sales.
The company, Europe's largest supplier of cheese for pizzas, exited the pig-meat business this year.
"We are having a good first half with individual divisional performances broadly as we would expect," Managing Director John Moloney said in the statement. "While there continues to be a level of volatility in global dairy markets and there are still some uncertainties, as would be expected this early in the year, we are confident of meeting market expectations for the year."
Analysts expect "double-digit" percentage growth in earnings, the company said in the statement. Glanbia is interested in buying nutritional food companies and could spend "north of €200 million euros" this year if it were to find a "suitable" purchase, Mr Moloney said in March.
The company aims to increase annual sales to about €3.5 billion in three to four years, he said at the time. Glanbia's annual general meeting takes place today.
Bloomberg