Kerry Group Navigates Soft Demand with Strong Margin Expansion and Leadership Transition

Kerry Group, a global taste and nutrition company, reported solid 2025 results despite a challenging macroeconomic environment marked by soft consumer demand. The company demonstrated strong volume growth, margin expansion, and announced a recent chair, Fiona Dawson, as current chair Tom Moran prepares for retirement.

Financial Performance Highlights

Preliminary full-year results for 2025 revealed revenue of €6.758 billion and earnings (EBITDA) of €1.208 billion. Notably, EBITDA margin increased by 80 basis points to 17.9%. Adjusted earnings per share rose 7.5% to 481.5 cent. Kerry generated free cash flow of €643 million, representing an 81% cash conversion rate.

These results reflect a year of strong end-market volume outperformance and margin expansion, according to Kerry CEO Edmond Scanlon. Volume growth was particularly strong in the Americas, driven by innovation in foodservice and increased nutritional renovation across a broad customer base. Kerry is positioned as a leader in sustainable nutrition, catering to customers seeking solutions related to nutrition, taste, cost, or sustainability.

Strategic Shift and Dairy Business Disposal

The positive financial performance comes in the first full year following the completion of the sale of Kerry Group’s Irish dairy processing division to Kerry Co-op in January 2025 . Edmond Scanlon stated that this transaction marked a significant step in Kerry’s history, transforming it into a pure-play global business-to-business taste and nutrition company with a focus on sustainable nutrition.

Leadership Transition

Kerry Group announced the appointment of Fiona Dawson as its new chair, succeeding Tom Moran, who will retire at the end of the Annual General Meeting on April 30, 2026. Dawson, a 33-year veteran of Mars International, currently serves as a non-executive director at Marks & Spencer, Reckitt, and Lego. She has been a non-executive director at Kerry Group since 2022.

Shareholder Returns and Outlook

Kerry Group launched a new €300 million share buyback program and declared a final dividend of 98 cent per share. Looking ahead to 2026, the company anticipates continued volume growth and margin expansion, projecting constant currency adjusted earnings per share growth of 6% to 10%. Although, the company acknowledges a foreign exchange headwind of approximately 4%.

Analyst Perspective

Davy Stockbroker’s Cathal Kenny described Kerry Group’s 2025 results as solid, highlighting solid progress on volume and margin despite the subdued demand environment. Kenny anticipates an earnings per share forecast in the zone of 501 cent (from 514 cent) after adjusting for foreign exchange impacts.

Challenges Remain

Despite the positive outlook, Kerry Group acknowledges that results for food and beverage markets continue to reflect soft overall consumer demand due to ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty.