Good Start To The Year
First Quarter Highlights
- Taste & Nutrition delivered good volume growth of 3.1% with Group volumes +1.9%
- Group pricing of -5.3% | Taste & Nutrition -3.9%
- Group EBITDA margin +140bps | Taste & Nutrition +140bps
- Dairy Ireland delivered a solid performance with EBITDA margin +70bps
- New €300m share buyback programme – reflected in updated full year guidance
Edmond Scanlon, Chief Executive Officer, says: “We are pleased to report a good start to the year given market dynamics. Taste & Nutrition achieved good volume growth driven by a strong performance within our foodservice channel and we delivered strong margin expansion in the period reflecting the continued development and evolution of our business.
“Consumer market dynamics remain similar to those outlined at our full year results. As part of our capital allocation framework as previously indicated, we are announcing a new share buyback programme, and the expected net earnings per share accretion has been reflected in our updated guidance range.”
O my friend — but it is too much for my strength — I sink under the weight of the splendor of these visions! A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. I am alone, and feel the charm of existence in this spot, which was created for the bliss of souls like mine.
I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents. I should be incapable of drawing a single stroke at the present moment; and yet I feel that I never was a greater artist than now.
When, while the lovely valley teems with vapor around me, and the meridian sun strikes the upper surface of the impenetrable foliage of my trees, and but a few stray gleams steal into the inner sanctuary, I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream; and, as I lie close to the earth, a thousand unknown plants are noticed by me: when I hear the buzz of the little world among the stalks, and grow familiar with the countless indescribable forms of the insects and flies, then I feel the presence of the Almighty, who formed us in his own image, and the breath of that universal love which bears and sustains us, as it floats around us in an eternity of bliss; and then, my friend, when darkness overspreads my eyes, and heaven and earth seem to dwell in my soul and absorb its power, like the form of a beloved mistress, then I often think with longing, Oh, would I could describe these conceptions, could impress upon paper all that is living so full and warm within me.