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Despite a ‘complex’ year, the Irish dairy co-operative put in a ‘solid performance’, said Conor. “We managed to grow our turnover by nearly two per cent, and grow profits by nearly five per cent. Operating profit is up to €136m and our payments out to members, the Ornua value payment for the 12 months, was €74m, which was up 14 per cent. There were really two different halves to the year but, nonetheless, Ornua still delivered value for Irish dairy," he said.

Especially impressive was the fact that revenues increased by 1.6 per cent while profit increased by 4.7 per cent, as Conor noted: “A lot of that was delivered by growing our margin and growing innovation in the business, and really driving value out of grass-fed dairy, making sure we are finding the markets that can pay a premium consistently. Those markets and consumers are also willing to take new products and buy into the brand. Because of that, we were able to increase the value payment back to producers.”

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Ornua’s geographic spread

Headquartered in Dublin, Ornua has a strong global team of 2,800 employees, operating from 10 business units worldwide, including 13 production facilities. It is, truly, a global company. “We have a number of important markets for the Kerrygold brand, with Ornua operating in the four corners of the globe,” said Conor. “Our most important markets in terms of sales include the US, Germany and the UK. Naturally, the Irish market remains very important to us as well. In addition, we have a very strong ingredients business in the US, Europe, in the Middle East and Africa. Ornua’s global reach allows us to trade through tough times and to still get the value back into Irish dairy.”

 

Catching the cream

Ornua’s Kerrygold brand has hit €1bn in revenues, so where does a brand go, and grow, from here? “The €1bn mark is a very strong foundation to grow from. It gives us the scale in the US, for instance, to launch new products and to sell to new consumers. Consumer recognition is high, and there’s a willingness to pay a premium, whether that’s for butter, cheese or newer branded products including cream cheese and flavoured butters. Cream cheese is an important addition to Kerrygold in the last couple of years, not least because it's a clean-label product. It doesn’t have any stabilisers or other added ingredients except dairy and some culture. There is enormous potential for cream cheese. Consumers are looking for difference in what they purchase. They are looking for natural products. Kerrygold can fulfil those needs. We continue to expand our distribution of cream cheese, and we will launch it in more markets in the next 12 months.”

 

Ornua growth plan

The Ornua co-op has embarked on a strategic growth plan to 2030, as described by the Ornua CEO: “It's all about transforming for growth, scale and efficiency. We're looking at growing our branded sales even further so that we can drive margins in the business and, ultimately, improve the returns to farmers. We will do that by having commercial and operational excellence. We will increase our focus on the consumer, whose needs are changing. They want more experiences. They want to be spoken to on social media. They want to interact with the brand. The strategy is all around changing the way we operate, to support the new world that we have to operate in.

“One target is to have €3bn of branded sales in the next five years, which would be a significant increase. We'll do that through innovation and through creating new products like the cream cheese that we've spoken about and by recruiting new consumers.”

 

Market opportunities

Do the Mercosur and India trade deals offer opportunities for Ornua? “They're probably more medium to long term. We must recognise that in the markets that we sell Kerrygold, we need to be able to command a premium to justify the product going into new markets. We have some seed markets, which we're currently looking to develop in the next couple of years. We do need to have patience and recognise that the investment the dairy industry and dairy farmers have made in Kerrygold over the last 60 years is paying the return. These things don't happen overnight, and there's certainly an ambition for us to expand beyond where we are today.”

 

Room for volume growth

Milk production peaked on Irish farms last year. Is there scope to sell more dairy produce?

“We can handle increased output, particularly on the branded side with the ambition we have for the Kerrygold brand. If there is more output, our role is to find markets to support that in a sustainable and profitable way. Last year demonstrated that with the right weather and economic conditions, we have a herd and a cohort of farmers that are well capable of producing high quality product in greater volumes. Ornua is here to support milk producers in their needs and ambitions. If the ambition is for them to continue growing, we'll grow with them.”

 

2026 outlook

The Ornua CEO is naturally cautious about the remainder of 2026: “We'd like to match last year's performance. Dairy markets are very volatile and a lot of the performance, particularly on the turnover line is driven by what the dairy markets can return. It appears that in the second half of the year, there will be a lift in the value of dairy markets. Ornua has had a reasonable start to 2026 so that’s positive. But the challenges now appear weekly and monthly that used to appear annually. So, we need to be agile and responsive. We also need to be very close to our members to make sure that we're aware of their challenges and their needs so that we can respond to them as well.”