Poultry producer Quantum Foods has reported a jump in first-half profit, driven by stronger demand, volume recovery and improved operating conditions across several regions.
Headline earnings per share (HEPS) soared 244% to 74.8c for the six months to end-March, the group said on Friday. Revenue grew 20% to R3.6bn, while operating profit before capital items surged 234% to R205m. Profit rose to R150.1m from R44.2m.
Despite the strong performance, no interim dividend was declared.
The group credited the performance to operational tailwinds, including a recovery in production volumes, increased demand for layer livestock and higher feed raw material costs, which boosted the feed segment revenue.
It also benefited from the absence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks, reduced load-shedding and improved financial performance in Uganda.
Quantum flagged challenges in Zambia and Mozambique, alongside pressure from a decline in egg realisations, which offset some of the gains.
The group said total egg production in SA was steadily increasing as the national flock recovered from the 2023 and 2024 avian flu outbreaks. The SA Poultry Association has forecast national egg production to be at pre-2023 HPAI outbreak levels by mid-2025.
Quantum said the risk of an HPAI outbreak was regarded as high for the rest of the 2025 financial year, with an increased number of outbreaks reported in recent months in the US, Europe, North Africa and West Africa.
“The stringent protocols for voluntary vaccination against HPAI published by the SA government remain prohibitive, with, to the best of the company’s knowledge, no producers having been successful in their applications to vaccinate poultry,” it said.
In the absence of vaccination, HPAI will remain a key risk factor that will continue to affect poultry businesses, resulting in huge uncertainty for the industry that could severely affect earnings, it said.
To mitigate this risk, Quantum has maintained the strategy introduced in 2024, involving placing a reduced number of layers in higher-risk geographical areas and sourcing layer hatching eggs from a larger number of geographically diverse breeder farms compared with the protocol in place before the 2023 HPAI outbreaks.
Quantum said it would focus on expanding its Malmesbury feed factory, completing a broiler breeder conversion and expansion and maintaining broiler efficiency gains. It also planned to restore its layer flock in Mozambique, invest in farm biosecurity and build on efficiency improvements across its African operations.
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