Poultry producer Astral Foods announced on Monday that a cybersecurity incident that put its operations on hold earlier this month would cost the group an estimated R20m in profit for the six months to end-March.
The company reassured investors that no confidential or sensitive data from customers, suppliers or stakeholders was compromised and that all business units were back to operating normally.
However, the incident forced Astral to hit pause on its poultry division’s processing and deliveries, with the downtime and production backlog resulting in a loss of revenue.
The attack came at a vulnerable time for Astral, with selling price deflation continuing to “place severe pressure” on broiler net margins.
Despite heavy spending on retail promotional activity on frozen chicken, a constrained consumer environment weighed on selling prices, while higher maize prices and last year’s droughts drove an increase in poultry feed input costs.
Against this backdrop, headline earnings per share (HEPS) are expected to plunge by up to 60% year on year to 354c in the first half.
Despite the headwinds, Astral said it had maintained a strong balance sheet position since returning to profitability in the year to end-September, with the group maintaining a net cash position in the six months to end-March compared to a net debt position in the previous comparable period.
At 10.24am on Monday the group’s share price was down 3.9% at R155.14.
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