Irish food giant Kerry Group posted a 10 per cent jump in year profits today and said sales for last year exceeded €4 billion for the first time.
The company - which makes ingredients, flavours, and finished foods - said trading to date in 2005 was good and it expected to perform in line with market expectations for the year.
Kerry said pretax profits before goodwill and exceptional items for the year was €230 million, up 10.7 per cent on the year-ago period.
It said earnings per share, before goodwill and exceptionals, for the year climbed to 123.7 cents - a rise of 10.3 per cent over the previous year.
Kerry said earlier this year it would invest €20 million to expand its presence in China, buying a local food company and setting up a plant to make ingredients and flavourings.