Inghams Group Ltd. (ASX: ING), Australia's largest poultry producer, saw its share price decline by as much as 17% at one point on concerns related to avian influenza outbreaks. This downturn occurred despite the company's reassurance that its operations were not affected.
The initial trigger for the market's anxiety was the detection of the H5 bird flu strain in a dead migratory seabird in remote Western Australia on June 20, 2026, marking the virus's spread to every continent. Following this, an avian influenza detection by Agriculture Victoria on an egg farm near Meredith, south of Ballarat in Victoria, further intensified concerns. The specific strain in Victoria is yet to be determined, but the affected property has been quarantined with an exclusion zone established.
In response, Inghams stated it has no commercial broiler farms in the affected Victorian region and that its supply chain and operations remain unimpacted. Nevertheless, the company has implemented enhanced biosecurity measures across all its Victorian operations, restricting access for both livestock and processing. Looking ahead, Inghams is expected to benefit from lower key feed costs in FY25, and despite today's decline, its share price was up approximately 20% over the last year. Earlier financial results showed its core poultry volume up 2.2% to 240.8kt and revenue increased 8.7% to $1.64 billion for the FY24 first half, with underlying net profit after tax growing by 134.2% to $62.3 million.
This incident adds to previous challenges faced by Inghams, as seen in its first half FY26 results where profit dropped 65% to $18.1 million. The company cited issues like excess inventory management costs and supply chain inefficiencies, leading to a downgrade of its FY26 underlying EBITDA guidance to $180-$200 million from a previous $215-$230 million. While the Western Australian H5 detection is considered a "distant concern" for Victoria, industry representatives acknowledge the inevitability of the virus arriving, prompting increased biosecurity across the sector and an additional $11.2 million federal investment to protect native species.
