Kerry Group PLC on Tuesday said it remained in a good position to outperform its market as it expects solid volume growth and margin expansion in the new year.
The Tralee, County Kerry-based provider of nutrition products said pretax profit rose 2.3% to €841.8 million in 2024, from €822.6 million in 2023.
Revenue fell 0.5% to €7.98 billion from €8.02 billion.
Finance income rose 60% to €34.8 million from €21.8 million.
In January, Kerry completed phase one of the sale of Kerry Dairy Ireland to Kerry Co-Operative Creameries Ltd for an enterprise value of €500 million.
Dairy Ireland contributed €1.32 billion to the company’s revenue in 2024.
The company aims to become a pure play global business to business taste and nutrition company, with a focus on sustainable nutrition.
Kerry declared a final dividend of 89.0 euro cents per share, up from 80.8c a year ago, bringing the total payout for 2024 to 127.1c, up 10% from 115.4c.
The company’s net debt as at December 31 increased 20% to €1.93 billion from €1.60 billion a year prior.
Looking ahead, Kerry said it remained well positioned for strong market outperformance, citing a ‘unique’ positioning with customers.
It expects to deliver ‘good’ volume growth and ‘strong’ margin expansion, with constant currency adjusted earnings per share growth of 7% to 11% in 2025, net of dilution from the Kerry Dairy Ireland sale.
Kerry shares rose 0.4% to €98.80 each on Tuesday afternoon in London, giving it a market capitalisation of €16.47 billion.
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