Ingredients company Kerry Group has published its latest trading statement, which has found that products across its Meat category achieved "strong growth" within the Asia Pacific/Middle East/Africa (APMEA) region.
The Group said that Meat category growth in this region was driven by "local authentic taste launches with global and regional leaders." Overall growth in the region was led by "a strong performance" in the Middle East across the year. China delivered good growth considering local market dynamics, while performance in Southeast Asia was impacted by challenging market conditions through the second half of the year.
Reported revenue in the APMEA region of €1,647 million reflected volume growth of 6.2%, lower pricing of 1%, favourable transaction currency of 0.1%, unfavourable translation currency of 6.6% and the effect from disposals net of acquisitions of 0.2%.
During the year, progress was made in enhancing the Group’s presence within the region. This included the expansion of Kerry’s footprint in East Africa and the opening of its new authentic taste facility in Karawang, Indonesia to further support customers in key end use markets across Southeast Asia.
Total Group revenue for the year was €8,020 million reflecting a decrease of 8.6%. Its Taste & Nutrition business volumes increased by 1.1% while Dairy Ireland volumes decreased by 6.5%.
Group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) margin increased by 60bps. Group EBITDA for the year was €1,165 million (2022: €1,216 million) as organic profit growth was more than offset by the impact of disposals net of acquisitions and "unfavourable translation currency."
Growth achieved despite market challenges
Edmond Scanlon, chief executive officer, said: "We delivered a solid performance in 2023 recognising varying market dynamics across our regions. Overall Taste & Nutrition volume growth represented an outperformance of our markets. APMEA and Europe achieved good volume growth led by a strong performance in the foodservice channel, while volumes in North America were impacted by stocking dynamics and softer market conditions. Dairy Ireland performance reflected challenging market conditions across the year. We were pleased with our good progress in expanding our EBITDA margin and reporting strong free cash flow generation."
He added: "As we begin 2024, Kerry’s innovation pipeline is strong, though overall consumer market volumes remain relatively muted, which is reflected in our guidance for the year of 5% to 8% adjusted earnings per share growth in constant currency."
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
