Arla posts one of its best-ever results thanks to one month of DMK

At the end of August, the management of Arla Foods proudly presented the results for the first half of 2026. One of the best results ever, according to CEO Peter Tuborgh. This seems hard to dispute based on the figures, but without the addition of one month of DMK, the picture would have looked different, as the 2026 half-year report shows. The merger with DMK took effect on 1 June, and the first half year was closed one month later. That one month including DMK ensured that revenue for the first half of 2026 was still able to remain in positive territory. With a total of almost €7.6 billion, 2% more was sold than in the first half of 2025. Without DMK's monthly revenue, a decline of 3.6% to just under €7.2 billion would have to be recorded. That is more than €250 million less than in the first six months of 2025. That is not surprising, because dairy prices have fallen sharply worldwide due to a strongly increased supply. The average fat price fell by 44.9% compared with the first half of last year, while the average protein price rose by only 7.2%, Arla itself reports. Thanks to the higher supply, the dairy company did sell a lot more dairy products than last year, but it therefore received less money for them than in the first half of 2025. Because the market was so under pressure, less could also be paid to the members. Meanwhile, they delivered 300 million kilos more milk than in the first six months of 2025. The merger with Arla provided a further 400 million kilos, bringing the total to 7.9 billion kilos, sold at average lower returns. Ingredients Even so, Arla managed to make €53 million more profit than a year earlier (€220 million versus €167 million). Judging by the report for the first half of this year, Arla's ingredients division was mainly responsible for this result. The rest must have been due to cost savings and the like. All other business units saw results come under pressure. The GIS division (Global Industry Sales) was able to sell 35% more product that the other divisions could not find a market for. The ingredients division (AFI) is in the middle of the high-protein trend and benefited greatly from it. Arla saw the average selling price of WPC80, for example, rise from €11,500 per ton in the first half of 2025 to €20,300 per ton in the first half of this year. Although higher prices per ton were paid in that last period, the amount mentioned is the average price across all WPC80 contracts.