LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Kerry Group posted a drop in interim profit and revenue on Friday as the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown measures took their toll on the Irish food company.
In the six months to the end of June, pre-tax profit fell to €244.9m from €272.4m on revenue of £3.4bn, down 4.3% from the same period a year ago.

Trading profit declined to €316m from €383m, with the trading profit margin down 140 basis points to 9.3%, mainly due to the "significant" operating deleverage impact resulting from the sharp decline in foodservice orders once lockdown measures were introduce. Kerry said Covid‐related costs were partially offset by cost-mitigation actions.

The company declared an interim dividend of 25.9 cents a share, up from 23.5 cents in the first half of last year.

Chief executive officer Edmond Scanlon said: "We had a strong start to the year, prior to restrictions on movement impacting business performance as we moved through the first quarter. As anticipated, we have seen a significant impact on our Taste & Nutrition business - particularly our foodservice channel, where the impact was most pronounced in April, with the channel recovering well since then.

"Performance in our retail channel improved in the second quarter, primarily through increased consumer demand for authentic cooking, plant‐based offerings and health and wellness products."

Kerry said it will not be providing full-year earnings guidance due to continued uncertainty over the extent and duration of the pandemic.

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