JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African food services company Bid Corporation (Bidcorp) reported a 6% rise in half-year earnings on Wednesday, with revenue up 3.6% on a better festive season trading in the second quarter.
The multinational company serving customers in 33 countries said its headline earnings per share (HEPS), the main profit measure in South Africa, rose to 12.21 rand ($0.6627) in the six months ended December 31. In constant currency, HEPS grew by 10%.
It declared an interim dividend of 5.6 rand per share, up 6.7% from last year.
Group revenue grew to 117.9 billion rand, with growth of 7.1% in constant currency, reflecting both organic and acquisitive growth, despite non-existent food inflation and weak consumer demand, the company said.
Trading profit increased 6.8% to 6.3 billion rand.
Its European businesses, the largest unit by revenue and profit, produced a good performance under difficult macro conditions, with growth in revenues and trading profits, Bidcorp said.
Activity levels in the first quarter were impacted by unseasonally cold and wet September weather in the Northern Hemisphere, coupled with extreme weather-related flooding in Eastern Europe, to the detriment of the group’s UK and European businesses, it said.
However, there was an improvement into the second quarter and the festive season.
($1 = 18.4235 rand)
(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
