Thanks for the link. Wow $2.40 assessed value! That is even high...

Thanks for the link. Wow $2.40 assessed value! That is even high for my optimism. But I'll be mostly hold on for the ride now. (I some sold close to the highs today, ready to buy in on the dips if they occur.) RIC has been my largest holding, it is now my second largest holding.

I don't think the drought has been a big factor. Animal feed is mostly sold on a feed price pass through approach and animals largely don't stop eating. Most of their feed is poultry and Australians still need their eggs and chicken whatever however poorly the harvest is going, the volumes continue. I think the main factor has been better management and significant capital investment replacing aging plants. As well as a few bad write offs in 2018-2019.

I've followed the milling side of Ridley closely, they have spent a small fortune in new plants over the last six or more years. First Lara in 2017, the Tassie in 2019 and Bendigo in 2020. An those are just the ones I know of off the top of my head. The tassie one didn't work out but they escaped at a profit. The Bendigo plant is state of the art and operating at high capacity, expanded to pigs as well as poultry and I believe I read somewhere they were moving to around the clock operation.

Also they had a few down years previously due to unplanned closures like Murray Bridge. Inghams went and built a state of the art plant there in 2019 presumably for their own supply and others and pushed Ridley out of town. The rendering side of things seems to be pulling in a tidy profit too though I haven't been following the activities there as much.

So yes I expect sustained earnings, and maybe I'll regret some of my profit taking today if it continues to rocket.