So far this financial year, the market has been favorable for Inghams Group, comprising vertically integrated poultry operations in Australia and New Zealand.
Demand has been stable, and both sales volume and price have improved, according to the group’s CEO and managing director, Ed Alexander.
“At the same time, we have experienced higher-than-expected operational costs in Australia across farming and processing operations, which arose toward the end of financial year 2025,” he said. “These factors will weigh on first-half earnings, however, we are taking decisive corrective actions, and the early results are encouraging.”
Announcing changes to the organizational structure, he expressed confidence that performance in the second half of the year would be significantly improved, and support sustainable growth in the long term.
New approach to organization at Inghams
From the second quarter of 2026, the company will operate with three divisions: primary processing & ingredients; agribusiness & operations enablement; and value-added & turkey.
The changes follow a review of the group’s business, and are forecast to result in annual cost savings of 8-10 million Australian dollars (AUD; US$5.2-6.6 million).
As well as cost savings, removal of some layers of management is expected to provide greater accountability, quicker decision-making, and more simplicity.
Inghams’ executive team will in future comprise 10 members — including one for each of the newly created divisions — all reporting directly to Alexander.
Early fiscal year 2026 trends, outlook
For the first 18 weeks of the current financial year (2026), Inghams Group has recorded the stabilization of sales volume, with average year-on-year growth of 0.8%. Company-wide net selling price is up almost 1%.
In Australia, Inghams is reporting retail sales excluding Woolworths up by more than 16% on the comparative period, while sales through quick-service restaurants (QSR) are almost 9% higher. Compared with the average for the previous fiscal year, Inghams Australia has achieved an increase in wholesale margin of around 39%.
For the whole of this fiscal year, Inghams Group has confirmed its earlier forecast for Underlying Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) of AUD215-230 million.
While feed costs are expected to benefit the firm’s business, inflation is forecast to push up its other operating costs. However, the impact will be partially offset by AUD60-80 million in savings from labor, procurement, and the operational changes.
The company has revised downwards its estimate of capital expenditure for the year by AUD10 million, so the forecast is now in the range AUD70-90 million.
More on Inghams Group
Production of 229 million birds per year makes Inghams the largest poultry meat company in Oceania, according to the WATT Poultry Top Poultry Companies survey (2023). With operations in New Zealand as well as Australia, the company produces and sells products based on chicken and turkey meat.
Across the two countries, Inghams operates over 340 vertically integrated facilities, which include breeding farms, broiler farms, distribution centers, hatcheries, processing, and further processing plants. The company also produces food products based on plant proteins.
Within the past month, Inghams Group has stated publicly that recent rumors that it is for sale are false.
Also in October, the company reported that Inghams was poised for future growth following publication of its annual report. For that period, the firm reported that Underlying EBITDA was expected to be in line with the strong result for the previous 12 months, with significant savings arising from ongoing cost-reduction programs.
