Irish dairy and food ingredients group Glanbia posted a 26 per cent rise in first half earnings on today thanks to higher milk prices and said it expected to beat the market's current full-year expectations.
Glanbia, which operates in Ireland, Britain, the United States and Nigeria, reported earnings per share (EPS) of 11.47 cents versus 9.12 cents a year earlier.
"We expect to deliver full year earnings growth in the high teens, which is an upgrade to current market expectations," group managing director John Moloney said in a statement.
The group, which processes 4.7 billion litres of milk and produces 370,000 tonnes of cheese a year, had said in June that first-half EPS would be up about 20 per cent.
It also said then that full-year results would be towards the upper end of analysts' expectations.
Revenue in the six months to the end of June rose 13 per cent to €1.04 billion which was also above what analysts had been expecting, beating even the most optimistic forecast in a Reuters survey.
"The drivers of this performance were strong results from our Food Ingredients USA and the global nutritionals businesses," said Mr Moloney whose company bought California-based nutrients maker Seltzer Companies in 2006.
"Buoyant world dairy markets were also a contributing factor, as expanded demand coupled with constrained supply saw global markets rise to record levels in the first half."