Glanbia’s consumer foods division, which includes pork, liquid milk, and chilled foods, delivered a steady performance overall in the first half, with a better performance from liquid milk and chilled foods offset by a decline in the performance of the pig meat operations.

Revenue for the consumer foods increased Euro 9.8 million to Euro 252.3 million. Operating profit increased to Euro 8.5 million.

The downturn in performance in the Glanbia’s food ingredients division--particularly the Ireland operations--led to a decrease in overall operating profit and margins. Glanbia said pre-exceptional operating profits fell Euro 1.9 million to Euro 36.4 million compared to Euro 38.3 million in 2005 and the operating margin was down 20 basis points to 3.9 percent.

There were no exceptional items in the first half of 2006. Net financing costs pre-exceptional were down by Euro 1.2 million to Euro 6.5 million compared to Euro 7.7 million in 2005 as the company continued to benefit from the refinancing initiatives undertaken in 2005.

Source: MeatNews