This strong quarterly performance comes alongside the company's decision to maintain its FY outlook. Volumes marketed over the quarter rose 10.5%, driven by the integration of acquisitions completed in 2024 and 2025 and robust poultry consumption.

"In addition to the positive impact of external growth on the Prepared Foods division and internationally, the group's quarterly revenue benefited from the price increases implemented in the poultry division to preserve the attractiveness of the French supply chain and accelerate the development plan for new poultry houses in order to meet rising poultry meat consumption," the owner of the Le Gaulois and Loué brands .

Numbers that whet investors' appetite

In detail, over the quarter, LDC generated revenue of €1.857bn, up a solid 17.3% y-o-y. Like-for-like, i.e. excluding contributions from acquisitions, sales growth came to 9.7%, at €1.736bn. Over the first nine months of the financial year, cumulative revenue totalled €5.307bn, up 16.2% on a reported basis and up 7.1% like-for-like. 

The quarter's momentum was particularly supported by the International division, where sales surged 51.5% to €352m, driven by the integration of companies such as Indykpol, Calibra and Konspol. 

In addition, the Prepared Foods division also posted solid growth of 20.2% to €300m. Growth is mainly thanks to the consolidation of sales from the Pierre Martinet group, whose additional contribution to sales over the period came close to €50m.

Finally, the Poultry France division advanced 9.5% (8.1% like-for-like) to reach €1.205bn, benefiting both from strong consumption and price increases intended to support upstream supply-chain investment.

Annual targets reiterated

Against a market backdrop that remains favourable to poultry consumption and on the back of successful year-end festivities, LDC is maintaining its full-year targets for 2025/2026: €7bn in revenue and EBITDA of over €560m.

"It is another quarter of strong like-for-like growth, supported by price effects with good volume resilience in Poultry. We are raising our forecasts for organic annual revenue growth from 5% to 7.4% and for recurring operating profit by 4%, betting on better organic growth and higher profitability in the poultry business (France and internationally). LDC continues to benefit from strong momentum in poultry consumption. Year-end festive activities appear to have been good," Oddo BHF said about the quarterly performance of the company specialising in the processing and marketing of poultry. The broker maintains its Outperform rating on the stock, raising its target price from €102 to €108.

Meanwhile, Portzamparc has nudged up its forecasts, now looking for 2025/2026 organic growth of 6.4% (vs. 5.8% previously), to factor in a more favourable mix/price effect. "After several quarters driven by volumes in France, price effects and international operations are taking over, while the contribution from acquisitions is solid," the analyst said.

In addition, TP Icap Midcap noted that "this quarterly release is in line with its expectations and that LDC's targets will be largely exceeded." Maintaining a Buy rating with an unchanged target price of €107, the broker forecasts EBITDA of €613m. It raises the question of "whether the group will manage to secure further price increases as the traditional negotiations with large-scale retailers have begun".

The analyst believes that LDC should seek additional price rises, again with the aim of revaluing the upstream supply chain. 

LDC will publish its Q4 2025/2026 revenue on 7 April.