- PIC performed strongly in every region
- ABS benefited from VAP and is now focused on revenue growth
- Formed Chinese JV with BCA and received further approvals for PRP gene edit
- Profit growth expected in both businesses in FY27
Group performance
Group revenue was £658.1m (FY25: £672.8m). The reduction in revenue was primarily caused by deconsolidation of PIC China from 31 January 2026, following its transfer to our new joint venture with BCA. Excluding PIC China, Group revenue was flat in constant currency and down 1% in actual currency.
Adjusted PBT increased by 30% in constant currency (+35% in actual currency), including a £5.6m milestone payment from BCA. Statutory PBT was £282m higher at £310.5m primarily reflecting the gain recognised on the formation of the PIC China joint venture together with continued strong operating performance across ABS and PIC.
PIC performed well in every region, with volumes up 12%. Royalty revenue grew 1% with adjusted royalty revenue, comprising PIC royalty revenue and PIC's share of joint venture royalty revenue, as if the China joint venture had been established before 1 July 2024, rose 5% to £196.9m. Adjusted operating profit (including joint ventures and milestone payments) increased by 16% in constant currency.
PIC grew strongly in Asia, driven by higher royalty revenues and increased volumes in China, as well as good progress in Vietnam and the Philippines. We see excellent long-term prospects in Southeast Asia, where we currently have low market shares and an opportunity to grow our footprints. Latin America also grew rapidly, particularly in Brazil where we have a successful joint venture with Agroceres and are benefiting from our investment in prior years. Growth in Brazil was driven by domestic demand, market share gains and strong performance in export markets. North America performed well but volumes were affected by customers having to manage outbreaks of PRRS. Growth in EMEA was also positive despite African Swine Fever cases in Spain’s wild boar population and other reported cases across Europe.
ABS Revenue was 2% lower in constant currency. Milk prices declined in many regions resulting in decreased demand for sexed semen from dairy customers. Against this backdrop, ABS volume grew 1% with sexed volume growing 2%. Results in Asia were weaker, as China’s restrictions on bovine genetic imports from the US effectively closed this market during the year. We were pleased to sign a significant contract in India for IntelliGen, enabling millions of small dairy farmers to produce more female calves by choice. The new contract signed with the state of Uttar Pradesh runs for five years, thereby improving the socio-economic status of countless rural households.
Operating profit including JVs in ABS increased by 11% in constant currency, with VAP initiatives contributing £9m in the year. Phase 3 was executed well and generated £7m of benefit in FY26 and an annualised benefit of £9m.
We continue to invest substantially in R&D, with total investment in the year, excluding the BCA milestone, equating to 11% of revenue. Research expenditure was 2% of revenue as we have refocused our activities and increased alignment with the business units. Product development investment was 8% of revenue, underlining our commitment to growth, improving our value proposition for customers and enhancing the sustainability of animal protein production.
We generated strong free cash flow of £62.0m, up from £40.9m in FY25. We also received net cash proceeds of £98m following the formation of our porcine joint venture in China. As a result, year-end leverage stood at 0.4 times compared to our unchanged target leverage range of one to two times EBITDA. Our focus on cash generation has driven a significantly strengthened balance sheet and in accordance with our capital allocation framework we will be commencing a £60m share buyback programme to be completed during FY27.
Our people and culture
Our people are fundamental to our performance and strategic progress, and I want to thank everyone for their contribution and dedication. This year’s employee survey scored strongly on values and showed we had made good progress with strengthening our culture since the previous survey in FY24. Other highlights included our people’s understanding of our strategy and our commitment to health and safety.
We have continued to reinforce the values we launched in FY25, including through our award-winning ValuesFest culture campaign. This initiative aimed to drive employee engagement and further strengthen our culture by inviting employees to celebrate our values and submit creative works that reflected their unique interpretation of them.
We also launched our new intranet called InGenus, to make communication with our employees seamless and create a better way to work together. It gives our people a single place to find information on business developments, our polices and employee resources, and includes AI-powered search, dynamic translation to support our global workforce and mobile access. We are seeing strong adoption and receiving excellent feedback.
Sustainability
Driving continuous genetic improvement is directly linked to better sustainability performance for beef, dairy and pork producers. Our genetics enable farmers to produce more high-quality animal protein using fewer scarce resources, such as feed, water and land. Scientific advances including PRP deliver improved environmental outcomes and higher standards of animal welfare.
We continue to demonstrate the sustainability benefits of our genetics through life cycle assessment (‘LCA’). In FY26, ABS obtained ISO certification for its LCA of proprietary beef lines, confirming that that ABS NuEra Genetics reduce the overall environmental footprint of commercial beef on dairy programmes in the U.S. and U.K. by 4.5% to 8.8%. PIC also completed an LCA in relation to PRP which found that eliminating PRRS could reduce green-house gas emissions by approximately 5% in the U.S..
Responsible adoption of Artificial Intelligence
We have done significant work on AI readiness and are well placed to take advantage of this technology throughout our business. Historically, we have written our own algorithms and deployed data scientists across our product development group, making us optimistic about AI as a tool to help us become even more effective. Our IT environment is also conducive to leveraging AI. At the same time, we are mindful of the risks, especially around cyber security, legal and compliance issues, so our objective is to empower our teams to use AI responsibly.
Outlook
Despite cyclical weakness in key agricultural markets, we expect to deliver resilient underlying profit growth in the year ahead.
Jorgen Kokke
Chief Executive
9 September 2026