Glanbia has seen its group revenues increase by 6%, reaching $1.93 billion (vs $1.82 billion in HY 2024), with uplifts in volume (0.9%), pricing (3.4%) and acquisitions (1.7%).
EBITDA pre-exceptional, however, has fallen; standing at $241.3 million – a drop of 7.5%.
CEO Hugh McGuire said both its Health & Nutrition (H&N) and Dairy Nutrition (DN) businesses – the latter of which having recently become a standalone – have been gaining momentum.
“First half results were driven by volume growth, earnings and margin progression in H&N and DN, reflecting strong customer demand. This was offset by anticipated reduced performance in PN [Performance Nutrition] primarily as a result of elevated whey costs during the period,” he said.
Its Performance Nutrition (PN) business, which includes brands such as Optimum Nutrition, saw like for like (LFL) revenue decline by 3.8%, driven by a 3.5% decrease in volume and a 0.5% decrease in price.
These results exclude Glanbia’s weight management brand SlimFast – which the company has been attempting to sell following underperformance, likely driven by the advent of weight-loss drugs.
The results of its PN business also excludes Body & Fit, with McGuire announcing that Glanbia has reached an agreement to sell the online sports nutrition business – the buyer was undisclosed.
Optimum Nutrition delivered a LFL revenue decline of 0.5%, with sequential improvement through the period, with revenue growth versus the prior year of 2% in Q2 (volume +1.5%, pricing +0.5%).
McGuire attributed this to lower revenues predominately in the US, club and speciality channels, a reduction in margin diluted promotions, and the impact of “non-core brand”, SlimFast.
From a regional point of view, PN Americas – which represents 61% of revenue – was down 8.7% vs last year.
“This was offset by strong growth in online channel and continued growth in international,” the CEO added.
Glanbia has also implemented price increases in PN across international markets.
“This was offset by some tactical price reductions on higher margin products in the energy category which delivered a very strong volume uplift in first half.”
McGuire said the company’s global brand footprint “continues to be a key strength” alongside its international business, which represents 39% of revenue.
Its international business delivered LFL revenue growth of 4.9% driven by “strong volume and pricing growth” in the Optimum Nutrition brand across priority markets – particularly in the UK, Oceania and India.
Commenting on headwinds impacting PN, McGuire said: “Whey protein has remained elevated due to continued strong demand and the group has contracted supply through most of Q1 2026. We continue to expect 15-20% of new local supply of high-end whey commencing by the end of 2025 and expanding across 2026.
“We are trying to mitigate impact with revenue growth management initiatives, product reformulation, group wide cost savings and working with key suppliers on further capacity.”
Within its H&N division, the company has added Sweetmix into the fold. The acquisition of the Brazillian-based nutritional premix and ingredients solutions business is part of a strategy to up growth in the Latin America region.
McGuire added that the company will “continue to look at strategic acquisitions” within its health and nutrition segment.
Overall, he said the business has “delivered strong operating returns and cash conversion and continue to have a disciplined approach to capital allocation, with a 10% increase in the interim dividend and €62.8 million returned to shareholders via share buyback programmes during the period.”
He continued: “We are today upgrading our full year adjusted EPS guidance to 130 to 133 $cent5 as a result of increased revenue momentum in PN and improved margins in H&N. The category trends remain positive, and we expect to see continued improvement in volumes across PN in the second half of the year with continued momentum in H&N and DN.”
Meanwhile, Glanbia has announced that it is appointing independent non-executive director, Paul Duffy, as chair designate. Duffy will succeed Donard Gaynor on 1 January 2026.
