Good morning and thank you for standing by. My name is John and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Kerry Group third quarter 2025 results webcast. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, simply press star one again. I would now like to turn the conference over to William Lynch, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Thank you, operator. Good morning and welcome to our Q3 2025 trading update call. I'm joined on the call by our CEO, Edmond Scanlon, and our CFO, Marguerite Larkin. As usual, Edmond and Marguerite will take you through our presentation, and we will then open the lines up for your questions. Before we begin, please note the usual disclaimer on our presentation regarding forward-looking statements. I will now hand over to Edmond.
Thanks, William, and good morning everyone, and thank you for joining our call. Moving first to slide four and my overview comments. We delivered a good performance across the first nine months of the year, with volume growth well ahead of our markets, combined with strong EBITDA and margin expansion. Beginning with revenue, volume growth for Q3 and year-to-date was 3%, which represented a strong end-market outperformance. Looking at this firstly by region, we achieved good growth in the Americas, supported by new product launch activity, with both Europe and APMEA delivering sequential volume growth improvements in the third quarter. From a channel perspective, food service growth of 4.1% was driven by good innovation activity across new menu items, seasonal launches, and LTOs. Growth in the retail channel was supported by increased retailer brand innovation and nutritional enhancement renovation.
By technology, we had strong performances across savory taste and taste sense, salt and sugar reduction technologies, as well as enzymes, natural extracts, and proactive health technologies. Moving to margins, we delivered strong EBITDA margin expansion of 90 basis points in the period, primarily driven by accelerated operational excellence. We continue to see good margin expansion opportunity in front of us. On guidance, we remain on track to deliver our full-year guidance. Finally, before we move to the performance review, I'd just like to update you on a few key strategic developments during the period. In recent weeks, we opened our new state-of-the-art biotechnology center in Leipzig in Germany, which will play an important role in supporting future fermentation and bio transformation innovation for the food and beverage industry.
In the period, we initiated our Accelerate 2.0 program, which will focus on footprint optimization and enabling digital excellence across the organization. We also continue to invest and develop our footprint capacity and capabilities across our regions through the period. I'll now hand you over to Marguerite for the business review.
Thanks, Edmond, and good morning everyone. Moving to slide five in the business review. Firstly, volume growth in the period of 3% represented continued strong end-market outperformance, as Edmond mentioned. Pricing of 0.2% reflected overall input cost inflation. On the EBITDA margins, we delivered strong margin progression of 90 basis points in the period and 80 basis points in the quarter, primarily driven by cost efficiency, operating leverage, and product mix, along with the contribution from acquisitions and disposals. Growth in our end-use markets was led by the bakery, snacks, and dairy end markets. Food service delivered growth of 4.1% despite soft traffic in places. Retail performed well overall, given increased customer focus on improving the nutritional profiles of their products. Volumes in emerging markets increased by 5.3% in the period, led by a strong performance in Southeast Asia. Turning to slide six now and our performance by region.
Firstly, in the Americas, where we had good performance across the region, with volume growth of 3.6% year-to-date and 3.5% in the third quarter. Within North America, growth was led by snacks through Kerry's range of savory taste profiles and taste sense salt reduction technologies. Growth in the retail channel was supported by renovation activity across global, regional, and retailer brands, with growth in food service led by good innovation activity with quick service and fast casual restaurants. In LatAm, we had strong growth in Brazil and Central America, led by snacks. In Europe, volume growth was 0.7% in the third quarter, 0.4% year-to-date. This included a good performance in food service through seasonal and new launch activity, with retail volumes reflecting soft market dynamics in Western Europe. Growth in the region was led by beverage through Kerry's integrated taste technologies and proactive health ingredients.
Turning to APMEA, where our volume growth was 4.1% in the third quarter. This was primarily driven by strong growth in Southeast Asia, with solid growth in the Middle East and Africa, and volumes in China remaining challenged. Food service delivered strong volume growth with coffee chains and quick service restaurants, and retail channel volume growth was driven by Kerry's authentic savory taste profiles. Growth in our end markets was led by bakery through food protection and preservation systems, as well as reformulation activity in areas including cocoa. Turning to the components of our reported year-to-date revenue bridge on slide seven, volume growth, as I mentioned, was 3%, with pricing of 0.2%. Transaction currency was favorable 0.2%. Translation currency was adverse 3.6%, given movements in the U.S. dollar and emerging market currencies versus the euro. Acquisitions net of disposals was a net decrease of 0.8% in the period.
Finally, to cover off a number of other matters on slide eight. Net debt at the end of the period was EUR 2.2 billion, reflecting cash generation, capital investments, and the share buyback program. We initiated Accelerate 2.0 as planned during the period, and we are pleased with the progress made. Firstly, in executing the footprint optimization strategy across Europe and North America, including the commencement of some site closures and the disposal of some associated business activities. Secondly, we have started the rollout of a number of digital initiatives we have been piloting over the last 18 months within our manufacturing operations and commercial activities. On the input costs, while there is overall variation within our input cost basket, we are currently looking at limited input cost inflation for the full year. On currency, our outlook remains unchanged for a 4%- 5% translation currency headwind in the full year.
To summarize, we delivered a good overall financial performance in the period, with volume growth combined with strong margin expansion. With that, I'll pass you back to Edmond.
Thanks, Marguerite. Moving to our full-year outlook on slide nine, our strong end-market volume outperformance in the period demonstrates the strength of our strategic positioning across our markets, channels, and customer base. Looking to the remainder of the year, while recognizing a heightened level of market uncertainty, we remain well-positioned for volume growth and strong margin expansion as we continue to support our customers as an innovation and renovation partner. As I noted earlier, we're maintaining our full-year adjusted EPS guidance of 7%- 11% constant currency growth. With that, I'll now hand you back to the operator, and we look forward to taking your questions.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. As a reminder, in order to ask a question, please press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. Your first question comes from the line of Patrick Higgins with Goodbody . Please go ahead.
Thanks. Morning, Edmond. Morning, Marguerite. A couple of questions, if that's okay. Firstly, just in terms of, I guess, guidance, obviously, you've reiterated the 7%- 11% on EPS, but just in terms of volumes, you know, I think at H1, you said around 3%. Is that, you know, kind of reiterated as well? I guess following on from that, you know, at the H1 point, you noted end markets were expected to be broadly flat this year. How has that developed since then? Could you maybe talk through the moving parts by region? My next question is just around the innovation pipeline. Obviously, you've been pretty consistent about the strength of that through this year. How has that developed since H1? Have you seen any delays or kind of smaller than expected launches? Just given the challenging kind of consumer backdrop, I'll leave it there. Thanks.
Thanks, Patrick. Good morning. Firstly, on the volume outlook for the remaining of the year, no change to what we said in the half year. We're expecting volume growth to be circa 3% in the full year. In terms of market conditions or what we're seeing by region, the reality is there is a lot of variability out there at the moment. North America, the consumer backdrop has remained challenging. I think we can all see that from different market data out there or traffic data on the food service channel being slightly back year-on-year. In LatAm, the market in Brazil has improved versus last year, but we've seen the opposite in Mexico. In the APMEA region, market demand in Southeast Asia has been healthy for us.
I think it's fair to say Indonesia has been the standout performer for us, but when we look right across Southeast Asia, it's been quite strong, maybe the only exception being Vietnam. I think what's really important for us is our ability to pivot, to be able to pivot resources at pace and at scale. In terms of innovation, we called out a year ago that penetration opportunity and the scale of that penetration opportunity is quite significant. As we look at the progression of our project pipeline between then and now, we've seen the impact of that penetration opportunity really contributing to our pipeline and contributing to the increase in scale in our pipeline over the course of the last 12 months. There has been quite a bit of launch activity in Q3 that will continue into Q4.
Some of the performance of that launch activity into the market has been mixed in places. Overall, I would say at the level of innovation that we have seen come through both on the retail channel and the food service channel is quite strong overall. The main driver being the penetration opportunity, but we've also seen customers, for instance, in food service, be it the larger players or the smaller players, step up the level of innovation with the larger players more focused on protecting market share and securing market share and bringing innovations to the menu to do that. The smaller players have been more into the zone of scaling their businesses and expanding their businesses through store openings. On the retail side, we've seen a significant step up in activity on private label, which drives the local and regional customer segment within our customer segmentation overall.
Okay, thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Alex Sloane with Barclays. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, morning all. Two questions from me, if that's okay. Clearly, it's too early to talk about 2026 precisely, but, you know, relative to where we are today, would it be fair to assume that APMEA growth next year can be closer to the medium-term target if China improves? Perhaps you could give a bit more color on the trends and outlooks that you're seeing in China, obviously still challenged in quarter three. The second one, in quarter three, you had sort of more balanced growth between food service, which obviously slowed a touch on the traffic, but improved growth in retail. Would you expect that sort of balance to remain the case for the remainder of the year and into 2026, or should we expect food service to resume its historical outperformance? Thanks.
Good morning, Alex. Maybe taking the second part of your question first. As you say, the performance across food service and retail has been, you know, food service is slightly ahead of retail as we sit here at the moment. As we look out, we would feel that food service will still continue to outperform retail like it has in the past. I guess the headlines that we're seeing maybe coming from the larger players or the traffic doesn't reflect the level of activity that's going on within the channel. I would say from an innovation perspective, whether it's LTOs, seasonal offerings, new taste profiles being launched onto the menus, a lot of innovation around chicken and the whole poultry category, beverage continuing to be quite strong.
The message really on food service is the headlines probably doesn't just capture the level of activity that's going on right across the channel. Maybe on APMEA for a minute. Our expectations here going forward over the coming quarters and over the medium term is that the APMEA region will continue, our expectations that the APMEA region will continue to be in that high single-digit volume growth zone. Obviously, we're not there at the moment, but we do remain very positive on the region. We have developed our business significantly there in recent years, particularly in the Middle East and Africa. We continue to invest in that region. We have new capacity coming on in Jeddah. We brought new ground in the manufacturing facility in Turkey. We're opening a new state-of-the-art technology and innovation center in Dubai.
That's really our expected standout performer here going out into the future, the Middle East and Africa. China has been more challenging in recent times. Absolutely no doubt about that. We have slightly adjusted our strategy in China in that we have seen some of our customer base in China look more to regions outside of China to grow their business. We have made a slight pivot there from a personnel perspective and from a strategic customer engagement perspective, bringing them proactive concepts whereby they can target regions outside of China to grow their business and specifically develop products for Southeast Asia and the Middle East and Africa, albeit these products will be produced in China. A slight pivot there. We're not sitting back waiting for the market to change in China.
We're being very proactive, really, to try and drive our business forward there and to get as proactive as we possibly can with our customer base.
Thank you.
Once again, if you would like to ask a question, please press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. Our next question comes from the line of Ed Hawkins with JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Hi all. Thanks very much for taking my questions. I've got two, please. My first one's on Europe. You saw a bit of an improvement in volume growth in Q3. Whether you could outline what drove that uptick and how durable it is as we think about Q4 and next year. Also, with the appointment of Marcelo as the head of that region, what is it you think needs to be changed or developed or fixed within the region to get it on a more sustainable growth footing? You know, after a couple of years that have been close to flat.
My second question, at the group level, as we think about 2026, and obviously, it's early days to be talking about, but in the absence of an end-market improvement, supposing end markets remain flat, what kind of levers do you see or what kind of areas to draw our attention to that could drive growth improvement versus this year? Is it your view that in a flat market, then a circa 3% is the right level for 2026 volumes as well? Thank you.
Yeah, maybe first on the Europe question, Ed, and good morning. I would say, look, our expectations for Europe, and bear in mind, when we talk about Europe, we're talking about the developed Europe situation. Basically, our expectation is to be in that 1% - 2% volume growth range. We are, and we will progress towards that range into, you know, in the, let's say, upcoming quarters. It's going to be a slow burn in Europe, though, nonetheless. I mean, the market is, let's say, fairly challenged. It is a market that we're expecting to have a more proactive approach in that market. We've always been proactive in Europe, but we're expecting Marcelo to bring that level of proactivity that we would typically have in emerging markets into Europe and to build on the good work that's already been going on in Europe.
We're not calling out any change in strategy in Europe. It's a continuation of the strategy. We believe we have absolutely the right strategy for our customer base in Europe and to grow our business in Europe. It's about, you know, let's say, doing a refresh in terms of our approach to market, bringing that emerging market mindset of intense proactivity to the customer base. In terms of maybe the outlook, you know, I would go back to the point, Ed, of let's say the market is going to do what the market is going to do. I guess we're really focused on driving our business forward. When I look at the scale of our pipeline versus where it was a year ago, it is significantly ahead of where it was a year ago.
I would call out maybe three big areas: the penetration opportunity that I, you know, I've talked about many times in the past, that reformulation from a nutrition perspective, from a cost perspective, and even from a sustainability perspective. These are all factors that are driving our business forward. There are, you know, challenges around availability, raw materials, etc., etc. All these things are driving our business forward, driving penetration, you know, contributing to the growth that we're getting in the business. The major, I suppose, reformulation opportunities specifically in North America are in front of us. The entire discussion around, I would say, the, you know, MAHA or, you know, the, you know, potential front-to-back labeling or, you know, let's see how things play out in North America. That's still very much in front of us.
States are doing their own thing, but there hasn't been a federal intervention yet in North America in terms of exactly the direction of travel. If and when that happens, we feel that's a further underpin of growth and a further underpin of opportunity for us going forward into the future. Food service, we've seen a significant step up in the level of value offerings and value meals and just our customer base being hyper-focused and [audio distortion] they're doing that through the lens of new launches, be it LTOs or seasonal offerings. They've also stepped up their value offerings. We expect that to continue over the coming quarters, and we're extremely well positioned as it relates to that channel.
The third area I call out is that private label opportunity whereby retailers are being quite aggressive in terms of trying to bring new products to the market that are not just national brand equivalents. They are trying to bring high-quality products to the market to grow categories. As we look out into the future, we feel that, despite the challenging market, there are several factors there that we feel quite good about as we look out into the quarters in front of us.
Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Fulvio Cazzol with Berenberg. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. My question is really on the EBITDA margin, which is up 90 basis points in the first nine months, up 80 basis points for the third quarter. My question around that is, clearly, it's developing probably better than what you would have anticipated at the start of the year, whether you can confirm that. If that's the case, could you maybe just highlight for us what's driving this? Is it that you're seeing incremental cost-saving opportunities that you're unlocking, or are you just executing faster some of the efficiencies? In other words, the 19 %- 20% target that you've got for 2028, are you likely to achieve that earlier, or is there going to be a bigger potential upside on the EBITDA margins? Thank you.
Good morning, Fulvio. Maybe I'll take that question. Firstly, we are pleased with the strong margin expansion of 80 basis points in the quarter. In terms of the stronger performance in the quarter, it's mainly due to the phasing of benefits from accelerated operational excellence and portfolio developments, slightly ahead of our expectation. I would say, though, there is no change to the full-year expectation for margin expansion of 70 basis points or greater. We are well on track to deliver that margin expansion in the current year. In terms of looking forward to the margin expansion over the next number of years, you know, we are happy that we have outlined a clear margin target of 19%- 20% by 2028. We have a clear pathway in terms of delivery of that target.
We're pleased with the progress that we've made in terms of commencing the Accelerate 2.0 program, which will be a strong underpin of delivery of that margin expansion over the next couple of years, as well as continued expansion from mix and operating leverage.
Thank you for that.
Our final question comes from the line of Cathal Kenny with Davy Research. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Good morning. Two questions from my side. Firstly, just come back to private label, Edmond. Just want to delve into that a little bit more. Which region are you seeing most activity around innovation, and which region are you best placed to execute on that opportunity? The second one is just on enzymes. I see it comes up in the press release a couple of times. Just wondering in terms of the end market applications you're focused on in terms of bringing that technology to bear. Thank you.
Good morning, Cathal. Maybe talking about enzymes first. I mean, I think the two end-use markets that we are seeing, I would say, a performance that is maybe even slightly ahead of expectations is on dairy and bakery. Firstly, on dairy, we have quite a strong offering into the dairy channel, let's say, historically. Lactose intolerance is a growing kind of need out there in the market, and we're extremely well positioned to be able to take advantage of that opportunity. That opportunity is quite global. The second area is in bakery, whereby enzymes and our enzyme capability is a key tool to the toolbox in our toolbox in terms of freshness and food protection and preservation. That is a demand from our customer base across both food service and retail channels.
That is about basically bringing freshness and food protection and preservation in a clean label way to the bakery end-use market. We recently announced a new biotechnology center in Leipzig in Germany, and we're expanding our footprint in Ireland as it relates to manufacturing enzymes, both on the fermentation side and on the packaging side. On private label, I guess private label is not new to us here in Europe or, let's say, in Ireland and the U.K. We have a strong track record in private label, let's say, emanating from this region. With that level of experience, we have an expertise that we have in private label. We've deployed those capabilities into North America.
It is in North America that we have seen a step change in terms of engagement with retailers around targeting certain categories where actually they want to take a leadership position in certain categories where they feel there's been a lack of innovation in recent years. They feel that there's plenty of scope from a pricing perspective to bring really high quality, clean label, more nutritious food and beverage products into categories that they want to lead. We're very well positioned to be able to actually enable them from an overall, I suppose, business model perspective. It is quite similar in terms of approach as we take for food service. We feel well positioned to be able to take advantage of this opportunity and expect that private label performance and private label market expansion will continue in North America.
We feel good about that as we look forward into the coming quarters.
Thank you.
That concludes the question and answer session. I would like to turn the call back over to Kerry for closing remarks.
Thank you, everyone, for joining us on the call today. If you do have any follow-ups, please do reach out. We just want to wish you a good day. Thank you.
This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect your lines. Have a pleasant day, everyone.