Ireland-based nutrition business Glanbia plc has announced a change in leadership as managing director Siobhán Talbot plans to retire next year.

Hugh McGuire, who is currently the CEO of the Glanbia Performance Nutrition (GPN) division, will take up the same role at Glanbia plc when Talbot steps down after ten years in charge on 31 December. She will retire in January.

In a statement today (16 August), McGuire was attributed as having "led the growth and evolution of GPN with unrelenting focus to become a global leader and a key earnings generator". The division produces protein powders and sports supplements under the Optimum Nutrition brand and weight-loss snack bars and shakes under the SlimFast line.

McGuire joined Glanbia in 2003 initially within the ingredients division before becoming CEO of GPN in 2008.

Glanbia also issued its first-half results today. Revenue dropped 10% in constant-currency terms to $2.8bn. However, EBITA increased 6.1% to $198.6m.

The group's two main divisions, GPN and Glanbia Nutritionals, reported a mixed performance, with the former business seeing like-for-like branded revenue up 3.7%, mainly driven by pricing of 10.9%. Volumes fell 7.2%.

GPN’s Optimum Nutrition brand delivered like-for-like revenue growth of 16.2% with "volume and price momentum".

However, its Glanbia Nutritionals - Nutritional Solutions business reported a 15.2% decline in like-for-like revenue, with volumes falling by 10.4% and pricing down 4.8%.

As a result of the “strong operating performance”, Glanbia raised its earnings guidance from 7% to 11%, based on adjusted earnings per share growth on a constant-currency basis, to 12% to 15%.

The group cited GPN's performance as a main reason for the upgrade.

“I am pleased to report that Glanbia’s performance in the first half of the year was ahead of our expectations as the group successfully navigated some continuing volatility in global market conditions,” Talbot said.

“Our earnings momentum in the first half of 2023 was driven by a good performance in GPN as growth in revenue, earnings and margin reflected a strong global performance for our flagship Optimum Nutrition brand.”

She added that Glanbia’s strategy to simplify the portfolio is “on track”.

“As we look to the second half of the year, we believe that the combination of market opportunity and our strong operating capabilities set us up for sustained delivery of future growth.”