Kerry Group Targets Higher Margins, 3%-5% Growth and €3.5B Cash Flow by 2030

Kerry Group LON: KYGA outlined new 2030 financial and operational targets, projecting continued volume growth, higher margins and stronger cash generation as it seeks to capitalize on food-service demand, emerging-market expansion and food-and-beverage product renovation.

Management said its strategy remains centered on helping customers address increasingly complex consumer, regulatory, supply-chain and nutrition-related challenges through its taste, biotechnology and innovation capabilities.

The company set a 2030 volume-growth target of 3% to 5%, EBITDA margin of 20% to 21%, high-single-digit-plus constant-currency adjusted earnings-per-share growth, cash conversion of at least 85%, and return on capital employed of 12% to 13%.

Growth Targets Built on Market Outperformance

Kerry said its volume-growth outlook assumes minimal end-market growth, rather than a broader recovery in food-and-beverage demand. The company expects to continue outperforming its addressable markets by more than 300 basis points, with those markets expected to grow by 1% to 2%, primarily due to renovation activity.

The company reported average volume growth of 3.8% over the past four years and said it has delivered its financial “algorithm” of volume growth, margin expansion and high-single-digit EPS growth in eight of the past 10 years. It also reported second-quarter volume growth of 3.5%.

By region, Kerry expects 3% to 5% volume growth in the Americas, approximately 1% to 2% growth in Europe, and 5% to 9% growth in Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa.

Management identified three primary drivers for future growth:

• Mid-single-digit-plus volume growth in food service;
• High-single-digit growth in emerging markets; and
• Growing demand for product renovation and reformulation.

Kerry said its food-service business has grown 70% since 2017 and currently holds a low-teens percentage share of its addressable market. The company pointed to menu innovation, including limited-time offers and beverage launches, as well as restaurant operators’ demand for back-of-house efficiency.

In emerging markets, Kerry said it generates more than €2.2 billion in revenue across Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia and North Asia. It has more than 9,000 employees, 500 scientists and 40 manufacturing facilities across those markets.

Renovation Opportunity Supports Technology-Led Strategy

Management described renovation as a structural shift in the food-and-beverage market, driven by consumer interest in health and wellness, cleaner labels, natural ingredients, supply-chain disruptions and changing regulations. Renovation now represents about 40% of Kerry’s pipeline, according to the company.

Kerry said customers are increasingly seeking solutions that can simultaneously improve taste, reduce sugar, salt, fat or calories, support clean-label initiatives, manage costs and improve sustainability outcomes.

The company highlighted sodium reduction and protein formulations as two major opportunities. It said consumers globally consume more than twice the World Health Organization’s recommended sodium intake, requiring food producers to reformulate products while maintaining flavor and texture.

Kerry said its TasteSense salt-reduction portfolio and biofermentation capabilities are designed to help customers address those challenges through combinations of taste modulation, flavor systems and functionality technologies.

Management also cited rising protein demand, saying nearly 60% of global consumers are actively incorporating more protein into their diets. In the U.S., beverage launches carrying protein claims increased 69% in 2025, the company said. Kerry noted that products containing more than 40 grams of protein per serving can create bitterness, metallic notes, astringency and texture challenges, which its TasteSense masking platform is intended to address.

Margin, Cash Flow and Capital Allocation Plans

Marguerite Larkin, Kerry’s CFO, said the company expects EBITDA margin to rise to 20% to 21% by 2030, from a gross-margin base of 38% in 2025. Kerry expects gross margin to exceed 39% by 2030.

Larkin said margin expansion will be supported by operating leverage, product mix and efficiency initiatives under its Accelerate 2.0 program. The program includes manufacturing-footprint optimization and digital-excellence initiatives across manufacturing, supply chain, commercial operations and global business services.

Kerry said it has completed seven manufacturing-site actions in 2025 and two more in 2026 as part of plans to reduce its footprint by a low-double-digit number of sites. The company expects the remaining actions to be completed over the next 18 months.

The company plans to reinvest in growth, including research and development spending expected to rise ahead of sales growth to a 5% to 6% range. Kerry currently spends more than €300 million on R&D for food-and-beverage end markets.

Larkin said Kerry generated €2.8 billion of free cash flow over the past four years and is targeting €3.5 billion of free cash flow between 2027 and 2030. The company raised its cash-conversion target to 85% from its previous target.

Its capital-allocation priorities remain investment in the business, double-digit dividend growth, strategy-aligned bolt-on acquisitions and share buybacks. Kerry said it intends to invest 4% to 5% of revenue in capital expenditures while maintaining balance-sheet flexibility for acquisitions and shareholder returns.

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.

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