Double-digit growth for IAWS

IAWS has delivered solid growth with sales and earnings in double digits for the year ended 31 July, 2005.

Strong growth in the food division pushed up the group’s pre-tax profits for the year by 14% to €111.7 million from €97.7m.

Sales for the 12 months grew by over 10% to €1.408 billion. Year on year sales growth in the food division was 12.1%.

Like others in the food sector, the group reported trading conditions in key European and North American markets have become “more challenging.”

IAWS said it was proposing a final dividend 6.052 cent, giving a total dividend for the year of 11.887 cent per share, up 13%.

The company’s operating profit was up 13.7% at €24.1m. Of that, Lifestyle foods accounted for €73.9m. That was a significant 30% increase year on year.

Organic growth was responsible for 17% of this increase while 13% was driven by acquisitions.

Key highlights:

Food achieved strong growth in all markets and, including acquisitions, increased sales by 22.6% to €892m. Year on year organic sales growth was 12.1%. Underlying sales in Ireland increased by 6%, in Britain by 13% and in the US by over 20%.

Group capital investment of €63m supported management team in building strong operational platforms, customer services and broader product portfolios in Europe and North America.

Diverse product range was distributed internationally to over 50,000 outlets.

The Groupe Hubert acquisition in France made an initial €7.4m contribution to operating profits.

Associates and Joint Venture in Food, Hiestand, Odlum and the Tim Horton JV, contributed €25m to operating profits, a 13% increase.

Nutrition/Agri experienced difficult market conditions with sales falling by 4.3% to €563m and operating profits down 18% at €22.7m, partially attributable to a disposal of assets in the division.

French company Groupe Hubert, bought last December, had an “excellent performance” and generated profits of €7.4m in the six month period.

In the case of its nutrition/agri operations, operating profits fell by a significant 18% to €22.7m.

Falls in fertiliser and feed ingredient volumes, as well as lower marine protein prices and the disposal of an animal protein business, were the main reasons for the shortfall.

The group said it was well placed to achieve further growth in the current year.

The past seven years has been characterised by €700m worth of investment that has resulted in very strong double-digit growth over the period.

In that time the group has moved from being an agri trader and fertiliser operation to one of the most successfully listed international food companies in the world.