Pilgrim’s Europe has released its financial results for FY 2024, reporting a “strong” performance in the first full-year trading period since the integration of Pilgrim’s UK, Moy Park and Pilgrim’s Food Masters into the unified Pilgrim’s Europe structure.
Despite revenues easing slightly to £4.06 billon (down from £4.18 billion), the supplier reported profitable growth as profit after tax reached £128.4 million (up from £106 million in 2023) and further strengthened profit margin, which rose from 4.2% in 2023 to 6% in 2024. It said the strong performance was supported by investment in its brands and infrastructure throughout the year, driving efficiencies and enhancing mix while helping customers outperform sections of the market.
Pilgrim’s Europe president Ivan Siqueira commented: “The results demonstrate how integration over the past two years has strengthened Pilgrim’s Europe’s marketplace presence while cultivating a more nimble, customer-focused organisation to further scale profitable growth in 2025 and beyond.
“We’re proud to deliver a strong performance in our first full year as Pilgrim’s Europe. We’ve cultivated profitable growth by simplifying our structure, optimising our footprint, and investing behind our brands. The combination of innovation, deep customer partnerships and a growing branded offer has helped us outperform the market in several key categories. Thank you to all our team members for your support in continuing to drive our business forward and enhancing our position as a trusted partner to our customers and farmers whose continued support has made this possible.”
Over the year, Pilgrim’s made capex investments of £109 million, with £19 million invested in its fresh and value-added pork division, and the launch of a three-year £40 million investment programme across its key poultry sites. It also invested £12 million in its meal business as part of a £40 million multi-year investment programme.
As part of its integration strategy, it opened a new Shared Services centre in Northern Ireland in June 2024 and, this year, invested in a new corporate headquarters in Uxbridge.
Supporting supermarket initiatives
With the company introducing over 700 new products across its private label and branded portfolio in 2024, innovation now contributes more than 6% of total net sales.
Sustainability and animal welfare efforts have also directly supported commercial growth, said Pilgrim’s, as the company was first-to-market supporting Waitrose’s move to 100% Better Chicken Commitment higher welfare standard in April 2025. It also recently announced a new 10-year pork supply deal with the UK retailer.
Retail and brands see “continued momentum”
In 2024, net sales in key brands grew 5.7% year-on-year in Pilgrim’s £400 million branded portfolio and Pilgrim’s reported this momentum has continued in 2025.
Its Fridge Raiders brand outpaced category growth in volume and value at 7% and 6.6% in the Q2 2025, while Rollover posted 11.2% value gain, supported by expanded listings and NPD into chicken formats.
Commenting on the segment, Nick Robinson, Pilgrim’s CCO said: “We’ve expanded our Rollover portfolio into chicken, created additional eating occasions for Fridge Raiders through packaging and are working in close collaboration with key customers to create a series of premium new meal offerings. These items and several others are slated for launch in Q3 2025 and will be supported by marketing investment to foster growth.”
The company’s foodservice division saw sales grow by 10% year-on-year in Q1 2025, despite the channel facing a “tougher environment” towards the end of 2024 as total visits fell compared to the prior year. The group said it plans to further build its presence in pubs and bars, where consumer traffic has shown “relative resilience”.
Lamb and pork saw “reduced demand”
Pilgrim’s Europe said that retail demand “remained stable” through FY24 and into the first half of 2025, with poultry and chilled ready meals “performing well”. Lamb and pork categories experienced reduced demand to end Q2, which Pilgrim’s Europe attributed to higher price points amid ongoing cost-of-living concerns for consumers and National Insurance hikes for companies. These reportedly impacted both consumer sentiment and demand.
Pilgrim’s went on to say that the wider UK pork and poultry industry is “also facing on-farm space constraints” due to industry-wide planning delays and moves to higher welfare BCC and 30kg poultry production across retailers, which is constraining plant capacity and investment. However, the producer maintained that it was focused on supporting its key customers to outperform category averages.
