Share price in Glanbia plc has nosedived over the past 24 hours after the first half of 2019 for the Glanbia Performance Nutrition (GPN) side of the business was described as “disappointing” by the company yesterday morning, Wednesday, July 31.

As shares continued to take a hammering, AgriLand can reveal that, as of today, Thursday, August 1, price reached its lowest level this year – €10.84 – at one point before recovering slightly to €10.96 on the stock exchange.

On Monday, July 29, the share price stood at €14.33 while the highest value per share this year was €18.82 which was recorded in March.

Siobhán Talbot, group managing director, said that while Glanbia grew wholly owned revenues by 12.0% – on a constant currency basis, in the first half of 2019, adjusted earnings per share declined by 10.8% on a constant currency basis.

She then pointed out that the company’s nutritional solutions, US cheese and joint venture businesses had good results so far this year.

The recent acquisitions of SlimFast and Watson are performing very well.

She continued: “GPN had a disappointing first half reflecting a number of factors including: business seasonality; consumer channel shift in Europe; and difficult global trade dynamics in key international markets.

“Overall, while we have positive momentum across many parts of the group, this has increased our caution for the remainder of the year.

“For the full year, 2019, Glanbia now expects to deliver adjusted earnings per share on a reported basis of between 88c to 92c assuming foreign exchange rates remain at current levels.”

Drive and growth

Meanwhile, Glanbia reported wholly owned revenues of €1,758.4 million – up 12.0% constant currency on the prior half year.

Wholly owned revenue was driven by volume growth of 1.6%, a price decline of 0.2% and acquisitions of 10.6% constant currency, versus the prior half year.

Talbot added: “The US cheese aspect saw revenue growth of 4.9% constant currency, while the group’s joint ventures share of profit after tax was €26.8 million, up €9.0 million on the prior half year.”

Seperately, there was an interim dividend of 10.68c per share recorded – up 10% on the prior half year and, as of today, Thursday, August 1, the value of Glanbia plc stands at €3.29 billion.