Glanbia finalizes acquisitions, wraps up 2018
With the financial year ending December 29, 2018, Glanbia released a full-year results report that highlighted a ‘good performance’ for 2018. Its profits were €234m ($266m), up by €2.6m ($2.95m) from last year. Volume for GN Nutritional Solutions grew by 8.5%.
Siobhán Talbot, Group Managing Director at Glanbia, said, “Consumer demand for our brands and nutritional ingredients remains strong, underpinned by positive long-term global health and wellness trends.”
“We continue to invest in expanding our business and its capabilities and we completed the acquisition of SlimFast in November 2018.” The SlimFast deal closed for $350m.
Glanbia expects adjusted earnings per share to grow between 5%-8% in constant currency in 2019. The US Cheese division operates all of the dairy processing plants within GN, and also the Southwest Cheese JV plant that produces cheese and whey ingredients.
Glanbia said US Cheese delivered a good operational performance in 2018, increasing volumes by 1.7%. The overall revenue was €680m ($772.7m) at a decrease of 3.1%.
Watson acquisition
It was also announced this week that Glanbia has entered into an agreement to acquire Watson, a US non-dairy ingredient solutions business. The deal closed for $89m and is expected to be completed by Q2 2019. Watson will become a part of GN Nutritional Solutions.
Glanbia said the acquisition will strengthen “Glanbia’s capability set with microencapsulation, agglomeration, micronizing, spray drying and edible film technologies,” enabling an “enhanced ability to create superior premix solutions that address the complex formulation requirements of today’s increasingly sophisticated applications.”
Brian Phelan, CEO of Glanbia, said, “We are excited to welcome the 300 employees of Watson with their established reputation of expertise, technical capability and commitment to excellence.”
Glanbia is also reorganizing its board of directors in 2019. The new board will have 16 members, including a group managing director, a group finance director, six independent non-executive directors, and eight non-executive directors nominated by Glanbia Co-operative Society Limited.
