Bidcorp provided an upbeat outlook for the rest of the fiscal year as it reported a 10% increase in half-year profit on Wednesday.
Bidcorp, which supplies food to pubs, hotels and restaurants across multiple countries in Africa, Europe, Greater China and Australia, said headline earnings per share (HEPS) came in at 1,267c in the six months to end-December.
CEO Bernard Berson attributed the growth to a combination of organic expansion and acquisitions, saying that the business achieved about 5% real organic growth after adjusting for food-basket inflation and acquisitions.
The company concluded eight bolt-on acquisitions during the period.
Bidcorp, which vies with some of the biggest catering companies in the world, including Sysco Corp in the US and Compass Group in the UK, operates in a challenging global environment, punctuated by unfavourable swings in currencies, subdued demand in China due to macroeconomic factors and challenges in Europe due to extreme weather.
Still, the company, which was spun out of Bidvest a few years ago, painted a rosy picture for the rest of the financial year.
“Our focus remains on what we can control, and we anticipate continuing to deliver real growth in the period ahead,” it said in the results filing.
Revenue grew 7.1% in constant currency to R118bn after adjusting for the relevant food-basket inflation and acquisitions. It raised its interim dividend payout by 6.7% to 560c per share after generating an almost one-fifth increase in cash to R8bn before working capital.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.