Kerry Group profit rises on taste and nutrition

Kerry Group posted a 12% increase in annual profit as the Irish food company's taste and nutrition business increased revenue.

Trading profit for the year to the end of December rose to €902.7m from €805.6m as sales increased 9.6% to €7.2bn. The shares rose 6.2% to €124.10 at 15:21 GMT - their highest for at least 20 years.

The company's taste and nutrition business, which helps develop products for others, increased revenue by 12.5% to €6bn, more than offsetting a 2.4% decline in sales of consumer foods such as Mattessons meats and Wall's sausages to €1.3bn. The Tralee, Ireland-based company's trading margin rose 30 basis points to 12.5%.

Kerry said it expected earnings per share to increase by 5-9% in 2020 taking into account an estimate of the impact of coronavirus in China during the first quarter. The company, which produces products for supermarkets such as Tesco, announced a final dividend of 55.1 cents a share taking the total dividend to 78.6 cents - up 12%.

Edward Scanlon, Kerry's chief executive, said: "We are pleased with the business performance and the strategic development of the group in 2019. Taste and nutrition delivered good volume growth, particularly against the backdrop of softer market volumes in some developed markets."