Glanbia closure leads to losses

Glanbia, the Irish dairy food producer, has reported a €40 million loss for the first half of the year in the wake of a €75 million restructuring charge relating to the closure of its UK consumer meats division.

The group, the largest producer of pizza cheese in Europe, announced its decision to exit its UK cooked meats business, with the loss of 700 jobs, in June after sales slumped during the first six months of the year.

Glanbia also sold its distribution business in the UK, which had employed 500 people, to Peter's, one of its former industry rivals.

The group currently employs more than 5,500 people at a number of sites in Ireland, the UK, Belgium and the US.

The interim results reflect the cost of Glanbia's restructuring programme. The group incurred an exceptional loss of €64m, €38m of which relates to a write-back of goodwill previously written off against reserves.

Setting aside the restructuring costs Glanbia has had to contend with difficult international diary markets, which in turn has led to volatile commodity prices during the first half of the year.

The group's underlying profits before exceptional items and tax increased by 8.9 per cent to €35.6 million while operating profits remained unchanged at €45 million on a slightly decreased turnover of €1.28 billion.

Glanbia, which is one of the world's top five cheese producers, maintains that it is now positioned for growth following the restructuring.

Tom Corcoran, chairman, said: "Glanbia is continuing to make progress, despite difficult international dairy markets from which no immediate recovery is envisaged. Overall, as markets stand, Glanbia expects to achieve a satisfactory full-year performance."​