The honeymoon period is certainly over for CEO Hugh McGuire at Glanbia, who took the role at the start of the year following the retirement of Siobhán Talbot.

After starting the year at just above €15, the company’s share price, helped by a strong set of 2023 results, climbed to €19.19 by mid-June. At that price, Glanbia was valued at just over €5bn.

That share price drifted lower over the following two months before last week’s release of earnings for the first six months of the year. Following that report, however, the drift lower turned into a steep fall with the share price dropping from €18.18 to €15.50 over the following five days, wiping almost €1bn off the value of the company.

The driver of the fall was the reduction in earnings guidance for the full year which disappointed investors.

The biggest single shareholder of Glanbia is Tirlán, which owns 75.5m shares. In Tirlán’s annual report published earlier this year they put the value of that holding at €1.346bn (based on a valuation date of 5 April). That stake is now worth €1.17bn, a drop of €170m.

Taking a longer view, Glanbia’s shares remain slightly higher than they were a year ago, and significantly above the €10.11 seen in mid-2022.