Kerry Group acquires US-based Ganeden

Kerry Group has acquired a US-based innovation company focused on probiotics, it said on Wednesday.

At a capital markets day for the food and nutrition company, the acquisition of Ganeden was said to compliment the group’s acquisition of Wellmune in late 2015. The Cleveland, Ohio, based company has current year revenue of $25 million and more than 135 patents for technologies in the supplement, food, beverage, nutrition and personal care markets.

Meanwhile, Kerry’s chief executive told investors that the group expects to deliver in excess of 10 per cent adjusted earnings per share growth on average per year over the next five years.

"This will be delivered through achievement of above industry-average volume growth and continued business margin expansion," said Edmond Scanlon, Kerry Group chief executive.

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“We expect to achieve 3 per cent to 5 per cent volume growth annually on a groupwide basis, with taste and nutrition targeting 4 per cent to 6 per cent growth and consumer foods targeting 2 per cent to 3 per cent growth,” he added.

Confident the company can continue to deliver organic growth for investors, Mr Scanlon said the group’s unique scalable business model puts it in a “strong position to lead the continued consolidation of our industry”.

“We continue to be impressed with management’s ability to produce stable returns for shareholders but we feel the stock is trading at fair value,” Merrion Private equity analyst, Dylan Simmonds, said.

Kerry Group, which controls brands including Cheesestrings, Denny and Dairygold, also told investors that its strategic priorities up to 2022 include implementing a cost optimization programme, advance expansion into fast growing sectors including snacking, out of home and food-to-go solutions, and mitigate Brexit related challenges. It plans to do that by addressing structural business issues and reduce its transaction currency exposure.