Kerry Group’s overall revenue dropped by 7.3% in the first quarter of this year, which the company says it due to the significant weakening of the US dollar.
This is contained in the Kerry Group Q1 Interim Management Statement 2026.
The Tralee-headquartered company says it experienced volume growth of 3.1%.
Chief Executive Officer at Kerry Edmond Scanlon says they were pleased to deliver a good start to the year, with volume growth across all three regions and continued margin expansion.
Kerry says while it recognises the uncertainty around the ongoing geopolitical volatility, Kerry remains strongly positioned for volume growth and margin expansion.
The company says overall food and beverage end market volumes remained subdued through the first quarter with a high level of market uncertainty given the macroeconomic backdrop.
There continued to be increased customer focus on product renovation to address a variety of needs including enhancing product nutritional profiles, cost optimisation, and supply chain challenges. Customer innovation activity also increased in many markets, orientated towards high growth areas including higher protein, proactive health and new format options.
Kerry’s volume growth in the period remained significantly ahead of food and beverage end markets, driven by good innovation activity in the foodservice channel and continued product renovation activity in the retail channel. This growth was achieved across a broad range of technologies, including savoury taste, Tastesense™ salt and sugar reduction technologies, botanicals, natural extracts, taste solutions for high-protein applications, enzymes and bio-fermented ingredients.
Revenue for the period comprised good volume growth of 3.1%, an overall pricing reduction of 1.3% reflective of input cost deflation, a reduction from disposals net of acquisitions of 1.2%, and adverse translation currency of 7.9%, resulting in an overall reported revenue decrease of 7.3%. The adverse translation currency impact was primarily driven by the significant weakening of the US$ versus the Euro compared to the corresponding period last year and based on prevailing exchange rates the foreign currency translation impact is expected to be significantly lower for the remainder of the year.
