Kerry Group (LON:KYGA) executives outlined the company’s strategy and medium-term financial targets during a company presentation, emphasizing consistent volume-led growth, margin expansion, and an increased role for biotechnology and reformulation-driven demand across global food and beverage markets.
Strategy: volume growth plus margin expansion
Chief Executive Officer Edmond Scanlon said Kerry’s strategic execution “boils down to two things”: delivering a “high single-digit plus” earnings algorithm through consistent volume growth and margin expansion, while continuing to strategically develop the business. Scanlon described Kerry as a global B2B specialty ingredients player with about EUR 7 billion in revenue, 119 manufacturing facilities across 34 countries, and what he called nutritional reach to almost 1.5 billion consumers.
Biotechnology positioned as a differentiator
Scanlon argued that biotechnology and biofermentation are increasingly central to solving industry challenges, citing pressures such as climate volatility, finite raw materials, and consumer demands for simpler labels, better nutrition, functional benefits, and authentic taste at a competitive cost. He said biotechnology enables scalable solutions that are not limited by traditional agriculture and can support cleaner labels, improved nutrition, consistent taste, and reduced environmental impact.
He noted that biotechnology is “not new” to Kerry and said the company has built the portfolio for more than a decade. Scanlon said about 40% of Kerry’s taste solutions are already enabled by fermentation. He also described a broader biotechnology portfolio spanning areas including enzymes for active health solutions, biopharma technologies, and food protection systems, powered by biofermentation and biotransformation processes.
Among examples of recent innovations, Scanlon referenced:
- Fermentation-derived TasteSense sweet and salt reduction technologies
- A new prebiotic, postbiotic for digestive and skin health
- A new enzyme system intended to deliver “significantly more natural sweetness”
- A fermentation-based solution for premium, natural savory taste experiences
Market backdrop: innovation plus renovation
Executives repeatedly framed the opportunity set as coming from two sources: innovation and renovation (reformulation). Scanlon said that despite “subdued” overall market data, Kerry’s end markets remain dynamic, pointing to pockets of growth such as high-protein products, ready-to-drink coffee, poultry, and supplements. He also said over 60% of food and beverage activity now involves product reformulation, with drivers including cost reduction and clean-label objectives.
Scanlon also discussed regional priorities, highlighting the Americas as a market where Kerry has delivered consistent volume growth in the 3–4% range despite modest underlying market growth. For the APMEA region, he said Kerry has grown revenue to over EUR 1.6 billion in less than 30 years, nearly doubling sales in the last decade, with the Middle East and Africa described as top growth drivers in the last five years. Scanlon also cited expected front-of-pack labeling requirements in parts of Southeast Asia and China as a potential catalyst for increased nutritional reformulation.
Vice President of Marketing for North America Elizabeth Horvath reinforced the theme of accelerating change, saying more than 70% of global consumers report their food and beverage preferences have changed in the last three years. Horvath characterized protein as a “design requirement” and said Kerry helps customers manage taste, texture, shelf life, and processing challenges by “layering” taste and biotechnology solutions, rather than producing protein itself.
Horvath shared customer examples across categories, including a clean-label preservation solution for a scaling meat-snack brand, taste and texture work to support higher pea-protein content in a beverage, and broad reformulation support for a large bakery reducing sodium and sugar while removing artificial ingredients and reducing supply-chain risk. She also described examples tied to chicken (including shelf-life extension and a broth-based approach incorporating collagen and protein), coffee (including functional coffee with high protein and low sugar), and supplements, including a GLP-1 support gummy featuring Sensoril®, a Kerry botanical extract that Horvath said is supported by “15+ clinical studies,” including one showing a 62% reduction in everyday stress over 60 days.
Financial model and targets through 2028
Chief Financial Officer Marguerite Larkin reviewed progress against Kerry’s medium-term targets, stating that over the fourth year of its plan the company averaged 3.8% volume growth, representing market outperformance of over 300 basis points. Larkin said Kerry has expanded EBITDA margin by 320 basis points since 2021 and remains on track for its 19–20% EBITDA margin target by 2028.
On earnings, Larkin said Kerry delivered 7.5% constant-currency adjusted EPS growth in 2025 and is planning for 2026 to be another high single-digit growth year. She also cited cash conversion above 80% and improvement in return on capital employed in recent years, with return on average capital employed at 10.6% in 2024 and a further underlying 20 basis points improvement in 2025 offset by currency effects. Larkin said the company expects to increase returns toward 12% over the coming years.
Efficiency, digital initiatives, and capital allocation
Larkin said Kerry completed its Accelerate Operational Excellence program in 2025, delivering recurring annual benefits “ahead of projections,” and has launched Accelerate 2.0 through 2028. She said Accelerate 2.0 is expected to deliver a recurring annual benefit of about EUR 100 million by 2028 at a total cost of about EUR 140 million, driven by footprint optimization and “digital excellence.” As part of footprint changes, Kerry reduced its manufacturing footprint from 124 facilities to 119 by the end of 2025.
Digital initiatives referenced included agentic AI for automated decision intelligence, expanded robotic process automation in global business centers, “Connected Plant” efforts such as predictive maintenance, and early use of digital manufacturing twins to reduce variability and improve yields and throughput. Larkin also referenced KerryNow, a customer portal providing real-time access, and said Kerry has been recognized as a “frontier firm” by Microsoft.
On capital allocation, Larkin outlined a framework spanning reinvestment and shareholder returns, including:
- Capital investment of 4–5% of revenue to support growth
- Maintaining a track record of double-digit dividend per share growth
- Evaluating M&A aligned to technology, positioning, or market access
- Balancing M&A with share buybacks
She said Kerry paid over EUR 200 million in dividends in 2025 and has grown dividends at a consistent double-digit rate since going public. Larkin added that since November 2023 the company has announced EUR 1.5 billion of share buybacks, including EUR 500 million repurchased in 2025.
Closing the presentation, Scanlon reiterated Kerry’s focus on executing strategy, capturing opportunity in innovation and renovation, and advancing digital enablement to support margin expansion alongside growth, positioning these elements as drivers of continued earnings compounding.
About Kerry Group (LON:KYGA)
Kerry Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides taste and nutrition solutions. The company operates in two segments, Taste & Nutrition, and Dairy Ireland. The Taste & Nutrition segment offers taste and nutrition solutions for the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical markets. The Dairy Ireland segment provides value-add dairy ingredients and consumer products, including functional proteins and nutritional bases. It operates in Ireland, rest of Europe, the Americas, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.
