Aryzta sees Q1 revenues rise by 14%
The group, which owns the popular Cuisine de France brand and which was established through the 2008 merger of IAWS and Swiss group, Hiestand, yesterday reported total group revenues of nearly €1.26bn for the first quarter of its financial year, to the end of October. That figure, up by 13.8% year-on-year, includes the contribution of agribusiness Origin Enterprises, of which Aryzta is the majority shareholder, and was helped by a 12.9% growth contribution from acquisitions.
Aryzta’s core food business generated first quarter revenues of €937.8m, showing underlying organic growth of just 0.5%, but acquisition-led growth of 15.5%. Overall, food revenue was up by 17.8% year-on-year. North American revenues were up by over 30% and Aryzta’s Food Europe division saw growth of 7%.
Group CEO Owen Killian said that management remained confident with its medium-term guidance of 7%-12% growth in underlying fully diluted earnings per share.
“We anticipate an increased momentum in underlying revenue through the second half,” he added.
Goodbody Stockbrokers said the first quarter like-for-like figures were “disappointing”, but forecasts Aryzta generating 12.4% earnings per share growth in its current financial year. Davy hailed “a very solid performance” from Food Europe, saying that in Europe and the US, Aryzta “is battling against a challenging environment”.
