* Sees strong growth prospects in nutrition business
* Forecasts 11-13 percent 2011 EPS growth
(Adds details, quote, background, shares)
By Yara Bayoumy
DUBLIN, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Irish food group Glanbia said it had acquired U.S. performance nutrition business Bio-Engineered Supplements and Nutrition for 108 million euros ($144.7 million), adding it expects strong growth in the sector.
An endorsement by the International Olympics Committee of high-quality proteins, particularly in muscle gain, repair and recovery for post-exercise would be a driving factor in expanding the customer base in the supplements market, Group Managing Director John Moloney said.
Europe's biggest supplier of mozzarella cheese for pizzas on Wednesday also reiterated its 20 percent adjusted earnings per share growth forecast for 2010, with 2011 growth seen at 11 to 13 percent.
"Our performance nutrition outlook (for 2011) is 6 percent to 7 percent in organic growth. We see very good prospects across our nutritional business," Moloney told Reuters earlier.
Glanbia also makes cheese in the United States for Burger King and McDonald's, while turning by-products into protein powders used to build muscles.
"We have seen sports nutrition to be a good growth area. We think there's a lot of opportunities ... and certainly we continue to focus on that. That doesn't mean that other aspects of our nutrition business are being neglected."
Bio-Engineered Supplements and Nutrition is a Florida-headquartered company whose products are shipped to over 40,000 retail outlets in the United States and distributed to more than 90 countries worldwide.
DAIRY IRELAND PERFORMS BETTER
Moloney said the company was particularly strong when it came to energy-based products, including bars, beverages and powders, in the pre-workout category.
Including the latest acquisition, Moloney said Glanbia now had a global nutritional business comprising three units, which have a combined revenue of 600 million euros.
"We've built it up organically over the last five years. It has good margins and good growth prospects and makes up 23-24 percent of group revenue," Moloney said.
Glanbia, which said the latest acquisition would enhance earnings, reiterated it expected to deliver 20 percent growth in its adjusted EPS for 2010, which equated to a little over 37 cents in EPS. It forecast 11 percent to 13 percent EPS growth for 2011.
Siobhan Talbot, the group finance director, attributed the discrepancy to significant improvement in the dairy ingredients sector in 2010 compared with 2009, when Dairy Ireland's operating profit fell 52 percent to 24 million euros.
The group said in its statement on Wednesday that Dairy Ireland's operating profit performance in 2010 continued to improve, with "good revenue growth" in the second half of 2010, compared to the same period a year earlier.
"There is a recalibration in relation to what was very difficult, most particularly for dairy ingredients. So we saw very significant uplift in the (2010) half-year on the prior half year," Talbot said. ($1=.7463 Euro) (Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)