CFO Outlook: Glanbia’s journey towards peak financial performance, with Mark Garvey

Mark Garvey became Group CFO of Glanbia in 2013, a time of significant change for the company. It was rapidly transitioning into a global performance nutrition and ingredients business, with acquisitions and joint ventures forming a core part of this successful diversification and expansion strategy.

However, in 2019 Glanbia hit a ‘speed bump’ in its performance nutrition business, requiring an adjustment to expectations of profit and the deployment of an extensive transformation programme. A year later, COVID-19 hit and, again, a new strategy was required. As Group CFO, Mark was a core part of the team driving Glanbia’s strategic reaction to both events, and he has witnessed the positive results first-hand.

In this episode of The EY CFO Outlook podcast, Mark Garvey talks to host Vincent Wall about the fascinating transformation of Glanbia from a dairy processing business to a global performance nutrition and ingredients giant. Employing over 7,600 team members across 34 countries, Glanbia truly is an Irish success story, and this interview reveals many of the driving factors behind its success. Mark and Vincent also discuss:

• The changing consumer and how COVID-19 has led to a greater focus on health and wellness, and why that is significant for Glanbia
• The proliferation of data and how it is being used to understand customer psychology and behaviour
• The importance of good investor relations – communication and reassurance in difficult times
• How the role of CFO has changed and expanded, and the qualities of an effective CFO
• Glanbia’s target of achieving Net Zero Carbon by 2050.