Pilgrim’s Europe’s consolidated FY24 results show strong financial performance in the first full-year trading period since the integration of Pilgrim’s UK, Moy Park, and Pilgrim’s Food Masters under the Pilgrim’s Europe umbrella.
While revenues fell from £4.18 billion to £4.06 billion, the business saw profit after tax rise from £106 million in 2023 to £128.4 million in 2024. Profits margin also saw improvement – up from 4.2% in 2023 to 6% in 2024.
The strong performance was supported by investment into Pilgrim’s Europe’s brands and infrastructure throughout the year, which helped to increase efficiency and enhance mix.
“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,” commented Pilgrim’s Europe president, Ivan Siqueira.
“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.”
Investment
Overall, Pilgrim’s Europe made £108 million strategic capex investments over F72024. This included a £19 million investment into its fresh and value-added pork division, with new slow-cooked capabilities at Bodmin, slicing automation at Corsham, new slicing and packing technology at King’s Lynn and investment in the company’s Westerleigh and Spalding processing sites.
The business also launch a three-year £40 million investment programme across key poultry sites at Anwick, Ashbourne, Ballymena, Craigavon and Dungannon, aimed at expanding fresh and ready to eat poultry capacity for core retail and foodservice customers.
While a £12m investment was injected into its meal business as part of a £40 million multi-year investment programme, including upgrades to meals production facilities at Windmill Lane and Attleborough.
Moreover, as part of its integration strategy, the manufacturer opened a new Shared Services centre in Northern Ireland in June 2024, and this year invested in a new corporate headquarters in Uxbridge.
Innovation
Innovation now contributes more than 6% of total net sales, with Pilgrim’s Europe introducing over 700 new products across its private label and branded portfolio in 2024. Innovation has maintained momentum in 2025, with a further 350 new products launched in the first half of the year.
Retail and brand performance
In 2024, net sales in key brands grew 5.7% year-on-year in Pilgrim’s £400 million branded portfolio.
Fridge Raiders outpaced category growth in volume and value at +7% and +6.6% in the second quarter 2025, while Rollover posted double-digit value gains (11.2%), supported by expanded listings and NPD into chicken formats.
Commenting on the segment, Nick Robinson, 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 the first quarter of 2025, despite the channel facing a tougher environment towards the end of 2024 as total visits fell compared to prior year. The group plans to further build its presence in pubs and bars, where consumer traffic has shown relative resilience.
Market dynamics
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 some reduced demand to end quarter two 2025 as a result of higher price points amidst ongoing cost of living pressures for consumers and national insurance hikes for companies. These impacted both consumer sentiment and demand.
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.
