Glanbia to expand nutritional product business

Glanbia, a leading cheddar cheese maker in the US, plans to invest nearly $277.67m (€200m) in acquisitions in 2012 to expand its nutritional product business.

Glanbia managing director John Moloney said the company is eyeing purchases in the US and Europe.

"The nutritional business is the key growth driver of the group and the company is building a consumer brand through specialty retailers," Moloney said.

Over the years, Glanbia has diversified from being a pure agri-foods business, to produce protein bars and other lifestyle nutritional products using the whey produced in cheese manufacturing process.

The company, which purchased Florida-based Bio-Engineered Supplements and Nutrition for $144m in January 2011, reported double the margins at its nutrition unit, compared to its Irish dairy business.

Glanbia’s US cheese and global nutritional businesses together posted an operating profit of $87.60m (€63.1m) in the first half of fiscal 2011, representing a margin of 10.4%.