Core poultry output by Ingham's Group Limited for the first half of the 2024 fiscal year was 240,800 metric tons (mt) — an increase of 5,100mt or 2.2% from the same period of 2023. Revenue for the six months increased by 8.7% to more than 1.64 billion Australian dollars (AUD; US$1.08 billion).
Expressed as Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA), operating profit for the period improved by almost 29% year-on-year to almost AUD253.7 million. Compared with AUD46.2 million for the first half of last year, net profit after taxes (NPAT) was reported at AUD63.4 million for the six months just ended.
Underlying EBITDA was almost 20% higher at AUD252.1 million.
Commenting on these results, Inghams’ CEO and Managing Director Andrew Reeves described the interim result as “strong,” and in line with the October trading update.
During the past year and in early 2024, the company was able to achieve price increases to cover significant cost increases at the time, he said, while consumer prices for poultry remained affordable. This resulted in modest volume growth for the company, and improvements in both margins and operational performance.
Business developments in Australia, New Zealand
Compared with the same period of the 2023 fiscal year, core poultry sales volume by Ingham's increased by just 1%. Sales through retail channels gained as cost-of-living pressures pushed consumers away other purchasing options. This helped raise revenue for the company by 7.2%.
External feed revenue was down 20% year-on-year as the result of the closure of the company’s feed mill in Wanneroo in April of last year.
In contrast, core poultry production in New Zealand was up by 9.5% for the six months compared with the previous year. This was the result of a recovery of the operations from a year-earlier, when these were hampered by shortages of labor and carbon dioxide. Revenue for the business was improved by 17.5% as a result, while underlying costs were 9% higher than in the first half of 2023.
More on Ingham’s
With annual slaughterings of 230 million birds, Ingham’s Group Limited is the largest poultry meat producer in Oceania, according to WATTPoultry.com’s Top Poultry Companies survey.
Producing both chicken and turkey meat, the company has a fully integrated operation from feed mills and hatcheries to processing and further processing facilities in Australia and New Zealand.
According to the company web site, Ingham's also holds strong market positions across the Australian turkey, Australian animal feed, and the New Zealand dairy feed industries.
In September of last year, Ingham’s announced it was building a new broiler breeder farm in the Australian state of New South Wales.
Around the same time, the company agreed a three-year pay deal with its workers, bringing a short strike by some union members to an end.
Two months later, plans were released for upgrades to three Ingham’s plants, increasing the level of automation with new leg deboning systems.
