I&J benefited materially from the weaker rand in the six months to December 2011, supported by good performance from the division's catching and processing operations.
The fashion brands businesses, Spitz and Indigo, achieved solid volume growth and also realised strong gross profit margins supported by favourable mix changes and import exchange rates that were secured before the rand weakened during the semester.
Snackworks achieved an improvement in results underpinned by stable and improving manufacturing performance and regained volume momentum in the biscuits category by re-aligning price points with consumer expectations.
"Entyce had a difficult semester with high raw material prices leading to margin pressure in coffee, creamer and rooibos tea which was exacerbated by poor creamer service levels in the second quarter. Coffee and creamer revenue was slightly below last year, despite higher prices, due to lower sales volumes in the absence of the competitor supply problems that occurred in the first half of last year," the company said in a statement.
AVI posted a 30% jump in diluted headline earnings per share from continuing operations to 187 cents in the period under review, from 143.3 cents a year earlier. Revenue from continuing operations rose by 8.6% to R4.49 billion, while operating profit increased by 26.8% to R855 million due to higher gross profit margins and a constrained increase in selling and administration costs.
The company said it believed that consumer demand would remain restrained in the second half of its financial year. "However, the group has good levels of forward exchange cover in place to limit the cost of imports and some commodity costs have started to soften, both of which will allow more leeway to manage the balance between price, volume and profitability with the flexibility that constrained trading environments require."
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