Chicken giant’s secret nest egg: development

The family behind huge poultry brands such as Steggles is also one of the country’s most profitable property developers.

The family behind huge poultry brands such as Steggles and Barter is also one of the country’s most profitable property developers, recently released documents reveal.

Financial accounts lodged with the corporate regulator by private Sydney development firm EJ Cooper & Son, owned by the Baiada family, show the company making pre-tax profits of more than $100 million a year from a string of projects in Sydney’s west and Queensland’s southeast.

EJ Cooper & Sons is the parent company of property firm ­Celestino, named after the late Celestino Baiada, who came to Australia from Malta in 1916 and built what is now a giant chicken business as well as buying up big parcels of land for future ­development.

The family’s property arm ­recorded pre-tax profits of about $104m in both the 2018 and 2017 financial years, according to a ­financial report recently lodged with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission under a new “significant global entity” requirement under which large private companies that have previously not lodged an annual report can now do so.

EJ Cooper & Sons made a net profit of about $73m in both years after paying about $31m in tax. Revenue topped the $300m mark in 2018, up from $224m for the year earlier but profits were about the same after a significant ­increase in property and development costs.

Just about all the revenue was from property sales. The company has more than $200m in ­assets on its balance sheet, including $435m in property, plant and equipment, and almost $100m in cash and cash equivalents.

Celestino is building the $5 billion Sydney Science Park in the city’s west, which is only about 3km from the new airport being built at Badgerys Creek.

Sydney Science Park is a 280ha project where construction of housing for 10,000 residents in at least 3000 homes was started last year. The first stage of the project involves a mix of commercial, residential, education buildings and open space, including retail, office and a STEM school planned to begin operations by 2021.

Celestino also is building the $4bn The Gables Box Hill community in Sydney’s northwest, which will include a 4ha lake similar in size to Darling Harbour’s Cockle Bay. It is part of a 330ha community that will ­incorporate a 63,000sq m town centre with a multistorey school, playing fields and a high-density residential, retail and commercial district.

The company wants to build at least 4000 homes in the project by 2025, with housing lots selling from $400,000. The land was ­formerly farmland where the first homes were built in 2017.

Other projects on its books ­include a scheme incorporating 6500 homes at Jimboomba, south of Brisbane, and Pinnacles outside of Townsville, where ­Celestino wants to build 5100 dwellings.

It also has plans for 580 housing lots in Glossodia, 55km northwest of the Sydney CBD in the Hawkesbury district.