Irish Dairy Board revenue at €2bn

New products as well as overseas acquisitions, capital investments, and ambitious plans for post-2015 growth in emerging markets, form the back story to the €2bn revenue reported in the Irish Dairy Board’s (IDB) annual results for 2012.

IDB’s pre-tax profits rose 5.8% from €15.4m in 2011 to €16.3m last year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation rose 10.8% from €38m to €42.1m, with about €20m of the gap between post-tax and pre- tax profit figures explained by depreciation on plant machinery in its recent mergers and acquisitions in the US and other overseas markets.

“The future will be all about growth,” said IDB chief executive Kevin Lane. “It is our responsibility to grow Kerrygold and our other brands. We should see a flood of new milk in 2015, and the investments we made in the US, UK, Middle East, Africa, and Russia, where we believe we can see huge growth.”