Profits at Aryzta up 1% to €74m for half year

PROFITS AT bakery group Aryzta rose 1.1 per cent to €73.8 million in the first half of the year even as sales declined 7.4 per cent, the company said yesterday.

The firm, which owns the Cuisine de France brand, said underlying fully diluted earnings per share fell 3 per cent to 104.5 cent for the six months to the end of January, 2010. Operating profit was constant at €106.5 million.

Chief executive Owen Killian said the economic recovery had yet to reach consumers, who were still adjusting their spending patterns in response to tough economic conditions.

“Credit availability remains difficult for many customers who need to maintain and develop their consumer-facing investment,” he said.

Tough trading conditions in Europe saw like-for-like revenues for the six-month period falling 10.1 per cent, with Ireland and Britain hardest hit. However, elsewhere in Europe, revenue growth from new customers partially offset slower revenues. Operating profit for the division fell 5.1 per cent to €60.7 million.

In North America, food division revenues fell 2.7 per cent on a like-for-like basis to €254.7 million but operating profit rose 2.8 per cent to €35.3 million as the firm focused on operating efficiencies.

In the company’s food developing markets sector, like-for-like revenue growth was 3.4 per cent, while operating profit grew 126 per cent to €2.1 million in the period. “There are no signs of any significant consumer recovery in the US with consumers continuing to conserve their dollars and customers not making decisions required to stimulate revenue growth,” the company said.

Net debt at Aryzta was reduced by €137.6 million to €487.9 million.

The bakery group also controls agri-nutrition firm Origin, which last week reported a 16 per cent fall in revenue over the same six-month period to €596 million from €710 million a year earlier, while profit fell 28 per cent to €10.2 million.

Aryzta was formed in 2008 from the merger between Irish food group IAWS and Swiss baker Hiestand.

On the Iseq, where Aryzta has its secondary listing, the company rose almost 2 per cent yesterday, closing up 55 cent at €28.70.