Food and ingredients company Kerry Group has delivered a ‘strong’ performance, with its chief executive crediting volume progression in its taste & nutrition division for the figures.

For the full year ending 31 December 2024, the group’s  EBITDA jumped to £1.03bn (€1.251bn) from £966.93m (€1.165bn) in the year ending December 2023. However sales dipped to £6.642bn (€7.981m), down from £6.656bn (€8.020bn) the previous year.

The taste and nutrition arm of the business led growth, with volumes up 3.4% for the year, and increasing by 4.1% in the golden quarter.

Kerry Group chief executive Edmond Scanlon said the performance presents the company’s progression in the taste and nutrition sector and showed a “strong margin expansion across the business”.

Scanlon added: “As we look to 2025, Kerry remains strongly positioned for good market outperformance due to our unique positioning with our customers as an innovation and renovation partner.

Subscribe to Grocery Gazette for free

Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning

“We expect to deliver good volume growth and strong margin expansion, resulting in constant currency adjusted earnings per share growth of 7% to 11%, after the dilution from the Kerry Dairy Ireland disposal.”

Kerry Group’s results follow the sale earlier this year of its Kerry Dairy Ireland operation to Kerry Co-Operative (Co-Op) Creameries.

The move came after the nutrition business first announced its decision to offload the dairy manufacturer in November, and comes amid the group’s wider strategic transformation to become a global taste and nutrition solution company.