The two big pillars of the Glanbia plc business - Glanbia Performance Nutrition (whey powders, etc) and Glanbia Nutritionals (the US cheese business) - rebounded well in revenue and profit in 2021.

Full-year results released on Thursday morning show the business performed well for full-year 2021, reinforcing interim results released during 2021.

The 2021 results are coming on the back of a COVID-19-impacted 2020 set of results, which saw a drop in operating profits and a decline in earnings.

Ukraine links

The two big risks for 2022 business for the group are probably the unfolding situation in Ukraine and higher dairy commodity prices. The Glanbia statement suggests neither will impact significantly on 2022 results.

The group has no operations in either Russia or Ukraine and total revenues from these regions are less than 2% of group revenue.

On price inflation, group CEO Siobhan Talbot said: “During 2022, we anticipate the effects of COVID-19 will further abate. However, the ongoing impact of cost inflation, especially dairy-related, will need to continue to be actively managed as it was in 2021.”

Financial

Total group revenue in 2021 was €4,196.9m (2020: €3,823.1m), up 9.8%. Profit after tax was €167.4m (2020: €143.8m).

Both of these resulted in an adjusted earnings per share of 87.15c, up 22.1% constant currency (up 18.1% reported). Earnings per share in 2020 was down 16% in 2020 to 73.8c/share.

Business units

Both the performance nutrition (GPN) business and the nutritionals business (GNS) delivered double-digit volume growth and price improvement versus prior year.

GPN revenues were up 17.1% constant currency (up 14.5% reported) reflecting strong consumption trends. GNS revenues were up 20.8% constant currency (up 17.5% reported) reflecting strong end-market demand and customer engagement.

Joint ventures

The other part of the Glanbia business is the share of revenue it gets from joint ventures (JV) it is involved in around the world.

One of these JVs is in Glanbia Ireland, but as far as Glanbia plc is concerned, that is discontinued business as of December 2021.

Glanbia’s pre-exceptional share of JV profit after tax for continuing operations decreased by €18.5m to €19.2m for full-year 2021, as a result of strong prior year comparatives, as well as commissioning costs for new JV plants.

Disposal of 40% interest in Glanbia Ireland JV for €307m is expected to complete in Q2 2022.

2022 outlook

For 2022, the group expects to deliver adjusted EPS growth for continuing operations from 2% to 8%, constant currency. Reported growth result is expected to be 5% higher based on current foreign exchange rates.

Talbot added: "I am pleased to announce that Glanbia delivered a strong performance in 2021 compared to the prior year as good revenue growth delivered an increase of 23.9% in adjusted EPS, constant currency, for continuing operations.

"This was well ahead of our expectations at the beginning of 2021 and was driven by strong global consumer demand in Glanbia’s areas of nutrition expertise across ingredient solutions and our portfolio of nutrition brands.

"Our robust and effective operational execution delivered an excellent cash performance, with 100.2% cash conversion in the year.”

Share price is very similar to where it was this time last year at just over €12.38 after reaching a high of €15.25 in August 2021.