Currency headwinds fail to deter Kerry

Kerry Group has maintained its growth forecasts for 2014, despite currency headwinds dragging down first-quarter revenues by nearly 2%.

In a trading update, issued ahead of its AGM in Tralee yesterday, the international food and ingredients group said that it still expects to achieve adjusted earnings per share growth this year of between 6% and 10% to a range of 273c to 284c.

Management said that reported first-quarter revenues were down by 1.7% on a year-on-year basis due to “the adverse translation impact of significant currency headwinds”.