Glanbia helped by rally in consumer division
Dairying went through its “worst period in years,” according to group managing director John Maloney, resulting in a sharp profits dip, but the rally on the consumer foods side offset that hiccup. And as a result of that sharp shift in fortunes at the consumer division, the group continued to maintain the improved profit trend it began last year, although exceptional charges of over 75m euro took some of the gloss off the figures. In the six months to June 29 2002, the dairy to consumer foods group improved its profit before tax by 8.9% to 35.63m euro (32.7m euro) while its adjusted earnings per share rose 10.4% to 8.50 cent (7.70c).
Shareholders are to benefit from a 5% boost to dividend payments that have been increased from 1.87c to 1.96 for the period.
