Kerry sees 8% jump in first-half profits to €175.2m

Food group Kerry has reported pre-tax profits of €175.2m for the first six months of this year, up 8% from the €162m announced for the same period last year.

Group sales revenue increased to €2.6bn, reflecting like-for-like (LFL) growth of 8.4%.

Basic earnings per share increased by 8.7% to 82.2c. The interim dividend of 9.8c per share represents an increase of 11.4% over the 2010 interim dividend.

Kerry Group boss Stan McCarthy said: "Kerry delivered a solid earnings performance and strong volume growth in the first half of 2011, despite significant raw material and input cost inflation.

"The group remains confident of achieving its growth targets for the full year and delivering 8% to 12% growth in adjusted earnings per share as guided at the beginning of the year."