Magnum Ice Cream Q4 Earnings Call Highlights

Posted by Defense World Staff on Feb 14th, 2026

Magnum Ice Cream (NYSE:MICC) reported full-year 2025 results in its first annual earnings webcast as a standalone public company, describing the year as “foundational” amid what management called unprecedented commodity inflation. Chief Executive Officer Peter ter Kulve and Chief Financial Officer Abhijit Bhattacharya said the company delivered organic sales growth of 4.2% for the year, including 1.5% volume growth, with gains across all regions and market share improvements in most markets.

Management pointed to a challenging cost environment, citing commodity and supply chain inflation of 380 basis points in 2025, driven primarily by cocoa. The company said it chose to price competitively and lean on productivity savings to protect volumes, rather than passing through the full inflation impact to consumers.

Full-year growth and a softer fourth quarter

Ter Kulve said every region contributed to growth, supported by improved availability, innovation, strategic pricing, and operational discipline. He highlighted that the fourth quarter is typically the smallest period—about 15% of annual sales—and can be distorted by seasonal factors, particularly in away-from-home markets where the company uses Q4 to retrieve and refurbish cabinets and manage trade stock ahead of the next season.

For Q4 2025, management said organic sales growth declined by less than 1%, citing disruption in U.S. food stamps and a late start to Brazil’s season. Ter Kulve said the business continued to outpace the ice cream category despite the tougher quarter and stressed he saw “nothing structural” from Q4 that would change expectations for 2026 market growth.

Strategy: growth, productivity, and reinvestment

Ter Kulve reiterated the strategy laid out at the company’s September Capital Markets Day, centered on three pillars: growth, productivity, and reinvestment. He said growth priorities include market-making innovation, competitive pricing across snacking and refreshment price points, international expansion of premium brands, multi-format take-home offerings, digitally led demand creation, and stronger out-of-home visibility and availability—particularly in e-commerce and emerging markets.

Productivity is anchored by a EUR 500 million program intended to reset the supply chain and structural cost base. Management said the program delivered EUR 180 million of savings in 2025, on top of EUR 70 million achieved in the second half of 2024, bringing cumulative savings to EUR 250 million. Initiatives cited included SKU simplification, factory investment to remove capacity constraints, improved seasonal planning using advanced weather forecasting models, and end-to-end cost discipline across procurement, logistics, and overhead.

Reinvestment included higher capital spending on the company’s cabinet fleet. Ter Kulve said cabinet CapEx rose about 10% in 2025 to support a market-leading fleet of 3 million cabinets, alongside deployment of technology intended to better forecast out-of-stocks and spot trends.

Brand performance and channel execution

Management said innovation and premiumization were treated as a “repeatable growth engine,” with 2025 launches including Magnum Utopia and BonBons, share gains for Ben & Jerry’s in the U.S. and Europe, growth for Cornetto supported by Cornetto Max and a new stick format in China, and continued development of the “heart brand” portfolio through socially driven activations and multilayer stick products.

The company also highlighted growth in better-for-you and portion-controlled formats. Ter Kulve said Yasso grew more than 30% in 2025 as it expanded into new formats in the U.S., while Breyers Carb Smart also grew. The company said it moved Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s into bite-sized formats and plans to extend the concept to brands such as Solero and Cornetto.

On channels, management described digital commerce as the fastest-growing channel, delivering double-digit growth, and said e-commerce in China accounts for more than 20% of sales. At-home and away-from-home both posted mid-single-digit growth, supported by a dedicated sales force, expanded cabinet fleets, route-to-market digitalization, and strengthened frontline execution.

Financial results, cash flow, and 2026 outlook

Bhattacharya reported 2025 revenue of EUR 7.9 billion, with organic growth of 4.2%. Price contributed about 2.6 percentage points, while volume and mix increased 1.5%. On profitability, he said adjusted EBITDA margin declined 100 basis points year over year on a reported currency basis, with roughly half attributed to FX translation and half to the start of transitional service agreements (TSAs) with Unilever in the second half of 2025. He emphasized that, excluding FX, gross margin improved 20 basis points operationally, while reported gross margin fell 30 basis points.

Bhattacharya said adjusted EBIT at constant exchange rates increased by EUR 48 million, as productivity savings, selective pricing, premiumization, and operating leverage more than offset significant raw material headwinds. SG&A increased 20 basis points, which management attributed to double-running costs as corporate functions were built out and TSA-related charges, while noting EUR 40 million of overhead productivity savings.

On cash flow, Bhattacharya said comparable free cash flow for 2025 (excluding separation-related costs) was EUR 602 million versus EUR 660 million for 2024 on a comparable basis, reflecting higher CapEx and FX translation. He said demerger costs and the interim operating model impacted cash flow by EUR 564 million, resulting in net free cash flow of EUR 38 million. The company ended 2025 with net debt to adjusted EBITDA of 2.4x, which management said was in line with its capital allocation policy.

For taxes, management reported an effective tax rate of 31.3%, with an adjusted tax rate of 26% after excluding certain adjusting items. The company expects an adjusted effective tax rate of around 27% in 2026.

Looking ahead, management said the ice cream market is expected to grow 3% to 4% in 2026, and it guided to organic sales growth of 3% to 5% with underlying margin improvement. Bhattacharya guided to adjusted EBITDA margin improvement of 40 to 60 basis points on a comparable perimeter basis, while reported adjusted EBITDA margin improvement is expected to be 0 to 20 basis points, primarily due to the anticipated acquisition of the India business in the first half of 2026. He also said improvements would be more weighted to the second half of 2026 due to TSA phasing and commodity price dynamics.

During Q&A, management discussed India as a large long-term growth opportunity but described the business as being in turnaround mode and said it would be loss-making as investments are made. Bhattacharya also said TSAs began July 1, 2025 and are expected to phase down through 2026 and 2027, with an exit planned by the end of 2027.