S Africa's Premier Group open to acquisitions after profit jumps 32.4%
South African food producer Premier Group has 1.1-billion rand ($60.91-million) available for acquisitions, it said on Tuesday, after reporting a 32.4% rise in interim profit.
Already, the group, which vies for market share with rivals such as Tiger Brands, Pioneer Food and RCL Foods, in June acquired a 30% stake in rice importer Goldkeys International, to gain exposure to the market in the staple.
Chief Executive Officer Kobus Gertenbach told Reuters on Tuesday, the focus was on diversification as the company was already "a big enough player" in most of the categories it is present in. That means it "can't really buy someone else (in those categories) without creating some competitive issues," he said.
The 200-year-old company which listed last year, said its headline earnings per share grew to 438 cents for the six months ended September 30 from 331 cents a year ago.
Group revenue and operating profit grew by 3.7% and 17.3% respectively, boosted by the suspension of electricity load-shedding in South Africa and cost-saving initiatives in a challenging operating environment, the company said.
Gertenbach said high maize prices were likely to result in substitution that underpins the logic of the Goldkeys deal.
"I would expect there to be quite a significant substitution, where consumers consume more rice and eat less maize" he said.
Premier Group's acquisition of Goldkeys coincided with a decision by India, the world's No.1 exporter of the grain to allow rice exports, after a ban of more than a year, leading to lower prices.
Comments
Research Reports
Latest Multimedia
Showroom
Leading condition monitoring specialists, WearCheck, help boost machinery lifespan and reduce catastrophic component failure through the scientific...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
