The listeria outbreak that shook SA last year has had little impact on Tiger Brands's business, says CEO Lawrence MacDougall, but the company is still facing a class-action lawsuit over the outbreak.
"I think the impact on the balance of our range has been very small," MacDougall said on Friday at the group's annual results presentation for the year ended in September.
The listeriosis outbreak that started in 2017 resulted in the deaths of more than 200 people. Test results announced by the then minister of health, Aaron Motsoaledi, linked the outbreak to an Enterprise Foods factory in Polokwane owned by Tiger Brands.
A class-action lawsuit against Tiger Brands led by Richard Spoor Inc Attorneys is under way. The litigation began in December 2018, when the certification for the class action was granted.
Tiger Brands has asked to be given until May next year to go through all the documents for the case. MacDougall denied allegations that the group was trying to delay the process, saying that was not possible since the matter is now in the hands of the court.
In May, Tiger Brands subpoenaed two laboratories to compel them to disclose results of the tests they had done following the outbreak. The laboratories, Vetlab and Aspirata, are opposing the application.
Richard Spoor said that his firm had filed an application to intervene on Friday in the dispute between Tiger Brands and the labs.
He had previously said the company was going after the laboratories in a bid to delay the litigation and find another company to shift the blame for the outbreak onto.
— I think the impact on the balance of our range has been very small
"We're definitely not satisfied with the responses. We think they are playing games; we don't believe they are serious; we don't even think they are being honest," Spoor said.
MacDougall said Tiger Brands had not received the test results conducted by the government that found the strain of listeria in the Polokwane facility was the same one that had killed consumers.
Spoor and Dr Juno Thomas, the head of the Centre for Enteric Diseases at the National Institution of Communicable Diseases, denied this, saying Tiger Brands had the results.
Earlier this month, Tiger Brands said it was considering selling its value-added meat brands such as Enterprise, Mielie-Kip and Renown as they were not an "ideal fit" in the Tiger Brands portfolio.
MacDougall would not disclose details of the potential buyer but said the due diligence process was likely to be concluded by year end. He dismissed suggestionsthe disposal was due to the listeria outbreak, saying the portfolio was about to be evaluated when the outbreak occurred.
Tinashe Kambadza, an equity analyst at Afrifocus, said he understood Tiger Brands's rationale for wanting to sell its value-added meat business given that it is not as profitable as the company anticipated after reopening it following the outbreak.
"Them selling it off is probably a good idea given the issues that transpired in the past, particularly with the listeria," Kambadza said.
Tiger Brands's share price closed 4.50% lower on Friday after it released results that showed a 3% rise in revenue but a 17% decline in headline earnings per share. The company's share price has fallen almost 40% since the listeria outbreak.
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