Kerry Group: announces FY-2023 preliminary results

Tralee / IE. (kg) Irland’s Kerry Group PLC announced its preliminary FY-2023 results for the financial year ended December 31, 2023, in which the Group achieved a solid business performance in a challenging environment. FY-2023 key highlights:

  • Group revenue of EUR 8,020m
  • Taste + Nutrition volume growth of +1.1 percent and +0.1 percent in Q4 (FY 2022: +7.8 percent) | Group volumes -0.9 percent (FY 2022: +6.1 percent)
  • Group pricing -0.7 percent reflecting the deflationary H2 environment (FY 2022: +11.7 percent)
  • Ebitda of EUR 1,165m with organic profit growth more than offset by the impact of disposals and translation currency
  • Ebitda margin increased by 60bps to 14.5 percent | Taste + Nutrition Ebitda margin 17.0 percent
  • Adjusted EPS of 430.1 cent – reflecting a 1.2 percent increase in constant currency (2022: 440.6 cent)
  • Basic EPS of 410.4 cent (2022: 341.9 cent)
  • Free cash flow of EUR 701m reflecting 92 percent cash conversion
  • Good progress on sustainability commitments including increasing nutritional reach to 1.25 billion consumers
  • Final dividend of 80.8 cent per share (total 2023 dividend up 10.1 percent to 115.4 cent)
  • Plan for further share buyback in 2024 – details to be announced post completion of existing EUR 300m programme

Chief Executive’s Summary

Chief Executive Officer Edmond Scanlon: «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.

«During the year we continued to invest capital and develop our business aligned to our strategic priorities. This included the expansion of our taste capabilities and footprint across our regions, further development of our nutrition portfolio, and broadening our emerging markets presence. This progress builds on our significant recent strategic portfolio developments and geographical expansion, strongly positioning Kerry for market outperformance and good margin progression in the coming years. 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 percent to 8 percent adjusted earnings per share growth in constant currency.»

For additional information please read the company’s PDF file below (211 KB).

20240220-KERRY-GROUP-FY2023.