Ingham's Group has converted its entire debt facility — AU$545 million (US$363 million) — into its first Sustainability Linked Loan.
According Ingham’s Group, this might be the first such transaction by a poultry producer in Australia.
“This ground-breaking transaction reaffirms our sustainability leadership position within the Australasian poultry industry, and demonstrates our ongoing commitment to achieving our ambitious environmental goals, which will directly benefit our key stakeholders,” said Andrew Reeves, CEO and managing director.
“The targets that have been selected for the Sustainable Linked Loan ensure strong alignment with our Sustainability strategy,” added the group’s chief financial officer, Gary Mallett.
Chosen by the group to assist with the transaction is the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ).
“The sustainability performance targets within this loan help incentivize Inghams on a pathway towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions, water use and waste,” said ANZ director of sustainable finance, Gary Mallett. “The deal is an encouraging step for the broader poultry sector, and one which we hope will inspire others in the industry along a similar pathway.”
Sustainability roadmap
When launching its 2030 sustainability initiative, Ingham’s Group aimed to pioneer sustainable poultry production — and not simply adapt to a changing world.
“Our Sustainability Leadership Roadmap isn’t just about setting goals,” said Reeves. “It’s about daring to reshape our practices, fostering necessary investment and nurturing collaborative partnerships. Crucially, this roadmap thrives on empowering our people.”
The roadmap had three main pillars: environmental, social and governance.
On climate action and planetary health, the firm aims to address climate risk and support a resilient global food system.
The social element covers the animal welfare, as well as equality and justice for people involved in food production across the world, under a banner of fairness doe animals and people.
Protein is health is the third pillar of the firm’s roadmap. It aims to address the growing consumption of protein, and the responsibility to provide healthy
Among the latest developments under the roadmap was the official opening last month of a new water recycling and treatment plant at the group’s Osborne Park site near Perth in Western Australia. It is expected to reduce water use at the primary processing facility by 40%.
More on Ingham’s Group
Australia-based Ingham’s Group is the largest poultry producer — not only in its home market but in the Oceania region. Annual slaughterings amount to 230 million birds, according to WATTPoultry.com’s Top Poultry Companies survey.
The same source puts the company’s share of the domestic poultry market at 40%. A vertically integrated group producing both chickens and turkeys, Inghams operates more than 340 facilities across Australia and New Zealand. These include 74 breeding farms, 225 broiler farms, and nine distribution centers, as well as feed mills, hatcheries, processing and further processing plants. As one of Australia's largest feed producers, Ingham’s also makes feed for poultry, horses, dairy cows, and pigs.
Results for the first half of the fiscal year revealed a 2.2% year-on-year increase in Inghams' poultry meat output at 240,800 metric tons (mt). This helped to boost revenue by 8.7% over the same period, and raise operating profit by almost 29%.
In March of this year, Ingham’s Group announced its planned acquisition of New Zealand-based poultry company, Bostock Brothers.
