Nomad Foods’ CEO Dominic Brisby suggested pricing will be the key driver to recapture the frozen-food maker’s “full potential” but at a short-term expense.
Speaking on his first results call yesterday (26 February) since becoming CEO, Brisby forecast another year of falling sales and profits, sending the company’s shares down 9% by the close of play in New York.
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Nomad Foods’ volumes fell 1.4% in 2025, along with a 0.5% decline in price/mix, and while Brisby said market share was retained for the Birds Eye and Findus brand owner, value share was lost.
In prepared remarks before yesterday’s analyst call, he said value share decreased 30 basis points last year, taking the loss to 190 basis points since 2021.
“This is not acceptable, especially when we have the leading brands in our category. We must change this trend and we’re taking numerous steps to drive improved results,” Brisby said, noting an “improvement will not be immediate”.
Nomad Foods will be taking some “sizeable price increases”, which will lead to some “disruption” in sales and profits.
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By GlobalDataIn what he described as a “transition year” accompanied with “some near-term turbulence”, a 2-5% decline in organic sales for 2026 is anticipated on the back of last year’s 1.9% decrease.
Adjusted EBITDA is expected to drop 5-10%, compared to the 7.5% retreat in 2025, while adjusted EPS is likely to be down 4-13% versus the 6.7% deterioration in the 12 months just concluded.
In retrospect, Brisby said: “These are not results that we as a leadership team or company can be proud of. While 2025 presented challenges that prevented us from reaching our full potential, we’ve gained valuable insights that are positioning us for stronger performance ahead.
“As we enter 2026, we’re viewing this as a pivotal year of strategic repositioning to get back on track…We command a market share that is 2.3 times larger on average than our next largest branded competitor.
“While we recognise we have not been capitalising on these inherent advantages, we are now laser-focused on unlocking the tremendous potential that exists within our portfolio.”
Brisby expects Nomad Foods to be back on track with a return to growth in 2027 and 2028 but has yet to cement his plans, which will be outlined at the next capital markets day, including targets.
He said the company needs to be more category “disruptive” and a step ahead of competitors, especially private label, to “drive people into the frozen aisle”.
The CEO added: “The key point from our side is to make sure we give consumers strong reasons to pay.
“While there are multiple reasons that we have not achieved our full potential in recent years, many of them stem from a lack of speed, agility, focus and accountability.
“We have been too slow in recognising changing market dynamics and have been too slow to act once the changes have been recognised.”
Brisby is sticking with the €200m ($236m) cost-savings programme introduced under his predecessor Stéfan Descheemaeker but inflation is still a headwind when it comes to price, particularly in fish.
CFO Ruben Baldew explained Nomad Foods is seeing some “disruptions” in the current price negotiations with retailers and also some “retaliation”, factors he believes are temporary.
“We face several uncertainties into next year, especially regarding private label and competitive pricing actions,” Baldew said.
“Most of our pricing is in our fish portfolio where we have seen industry-wide cost increases. Given our competitors are likely to be facing similar cost increases, it is likely that they will also be taking price. However, at this moment we see risks of price gaps widening, especially in the first half of the year.
“Because of this we are planning for volume declines from price elasticity. This is a meaningful contributor to our negative organic sales outlook.”
