(Alliance News) - Kerry Group PLC on Thursday reported revenue growth in the first quarter, largely driven by price hikes, though volume also rose slightly.

The nutrition products firm said "consumer demand remained resilient", despite rampant inflation.

Kerry said organic revenue growth in the first quarter was 8.5%. This was composed of price increases of 8.3% and a volume rise of 0.2%.

"Our performance in the first quarter was driven by good volume growth in [Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa] and Europe, led by strong growth in the food-service channel, as customers in the North America retail channel worked through elevated inventory levels across the period. Overall growth was led by the dairy, snacks and pharma markets, as customers continued to innovate their offerings while navigating the heightened inflationary environment," Chief Executive Officer Edmond Scanlon said.

"We continued to make good strategic progress through footprint expansion and portfolio evolution with the sale of our Sweet Ingredients portfolio, further enhancing and developing our business in areas where we can add most value. While recognising the current market uncertainty, we believe we remain strongly positioned for growth, and we reiterate our full-year constant currency earnings guidance."

Kerry sealed the sale of its Sweet Ingredients division for EUR500 million in March to Advent International's portfolio company IRCA.

It still expects to achieve adjusted earnings per share growth of 1% to 5% at constant currency in 2023.

Kerry shares traded 0.3% lower at EUR97.02 each in London on Thursday morning.

By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor

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