MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CEO’S REPORT

Jim Leighton

MANAGING DIRECTOR
AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

I am incredibly proud to lead Ingham’s and work with such a highly energised team who continually demonstrate their commitment to nourish our communities as an essential service provider.

This past year has been challenging as we navigated the impact of the ongoing drought and bushfires in Australia, and the emergence of COVID‑19. Throughout this uncertain time, we have maintained an unwavering commitment to ensure the supply of affordable, high quality and trusted products to our customers.

Pleasingly, our robust business model, led by experienced people with expertise in global best practice, helped to mitigate the impact of these challenges on our people and our company.

The health, safety and wellbeing of our people will always come first. Our company‑wide safety performance has materially improved this year. Our Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate has reduced by 45 per cent to 3.8 and our Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate has reduced by 63 per cent to 8.1. Sadly, one of our team members suffered a serious incident at Tahmoor in February. Thankfully, he is recovering and we are supporting his ongoing rehabilitation.

We achieved an increase of 3.3 per cent in group core poultry volume. This reflects the ongoing demand for poultry as an affordable and healthier protein choice.

In light of the challenges we faced throughout the year, the Ingham’s team has delivered resilient financial results as we remained focused on our five‑year strategy.

Underlying Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation was down 13.9 per cent to $179.7 million and Underlying Net Profit After Tax was down 23.6 per cent to $78.8 million. This result was in line with our business update in May and reflects the financial impact of the further processing network issues in the first quarter and COVID‑19 impacts on our business in the fourth quarter.

Our Ambition is to be the most trusted food producer in our market

The company’s balance sheet remains solid with strong cash conversion. This gives us the financial flexibility to deliver long‑term profitable growth through the execution of our strategic pillars by:

  • OPTIMISING THE CORE through continuous improvement of our operations, including the commissioning of new de‑boners at Te Aroha, New Zealand and Bolivar, South Australia and a new spin chiller at Somerville, Victoria
  • TRANSFORMING FOR TOMORROW by embracing new ways of working, including constructing new HatchTech hatcheries in Victoria and Western Australia to further improve animal welfare by providing chicks with immediate access to food and water when hatched, and
  • CREATING THE NEW with exciting product launches, including The FREE RANGER in Australia and the development of plant‑based protein products such as the Plant Collective in Australia and Let’s Eat in New Zealand.

Our Ambition is to be the most trusted food producer in our market, which we will reach by remaining consistently focused on achieving our resilient five‑year strategy.

I am proud of our achievements this year and thank the Ingham’s team for their commitment to our dual Purpose to Nourish Our World – including our People, Products, Partners, Planet and Profit – and to stop the spread of COVID‑19. Our people live our Principles of being open, honest and collaborative. I invite you to read more about their important work in this Report.

I would also like to thank our customers, consumers, shareholders and communities for their ongoing support as we continue to build on the great legacy of the Ingham’s business across Australia and New Zealand.

While the year ahead remains uncertain due to COVID‑19, we have proven the resilience of our strategy, business model and people as we continue to work through this evolving situation and remain committed to the delivery of more consistent, predictable and reliable returns to our stakeholders.