S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) share Bega Cheese Ltd (ASX: BGA) is off to the races today.
Shares in the Aussie dairy processor and food manufacturer closed yesterday trading for $5.21. In morning trade on Thursday, shares are swapping hands for $5.65 apiece, up 8.5%.
For some context, the ASX 200 is up 0.5% at this same time.
Here's what's spurring ASX investor interest today.
Image source: Getty Images
ASX 200 share leaps on underlying growth
Investors are piling into the ASX 200 share following the release of Bega Cheese's full-year results for the 12 months to 30 June (FY 2025).
Among the growth metrics, revenue of $3.54 billion was up 0.5% from FY 2024.
Management noted, "The group has continued to grow profitability in its Branded segment and successfully returned the Bulk segment to profit."
To get a clearer picture of what's been happening with the company, Bega explained the big performance difference between its statutory results and its much stronger normalised (or underlying) performance.
According to management:
A strong underlying financial performance was impacted by the restructuring costs of a number of transformational business improvement initiatives that position the group exceptionally well for the future…
Normalised items in the current period include the completed sale and exit of juice primary processing at Leeton NSW, the planned closure and consolidation of cheese packaging and processing capacities at Strathmerton Victoria into the Ridge Street facilities in Bega NSW, and the impairment of plant and equipment associated with the announced closure of peanut processing operations in Kingaroy and Tolga in Queensland.
With that in mind, on a statutory basis, the ASX 200 share reported statutory earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $165.5 million, up 0.2% from FY 2024.
And the net lost after tax of $8.5 million was down from a net profit after tax of $30.5 million last year.
As for the normalised results, FY 2025 EBITDA of $202.0 million was up 23.1% year on year.
And underlying profit after tax of $50.8 million was up 74%.
Bega's net debt declined by 22.4% over the year to $126.1 million.
On the passive income front, management declared a final fully franked dividend of 6.0 cents per share. That's up 50% from last year's final dividend.
If you'd like to bank that payout, you'll need to own Bega Cheese shares at market close on Monday, 25 August. The ASX 200 share trades ex-dividend on 26 August.
Adding in the interim dividend, Bega will have paid out 12.0 cents a share over the full year. At the current share price, that sees the stock trading on a fully franked dividend yield (partly trailing, partly pending) of 2.1%.
What's ahead for Bega Cheese shares?
Looking at what could impact the ASX 200 share in the year ahead, the company said it expects continued growth in its Branded segment and stable returns in its Bulk segment.
Bega provided FY 2026 guidance of a normalised EBITDA in the range of $215 million to $220 million.
With today's intraday gains factored in, the Bega Cheese share price is up 30% since this time last year.
