South African food services company Bid Corporation Ltd (Bidcorp) reported a 45.5% jump in half-year earnings on Wednesday, 22 February, benefiting from resurgent demand across the hospitality, tourism, and leisure sectors.
Source: Bidcorp
Bidcorp said in a statement that it was seeing a continued pickup in demand across all of its 35 countries, as Covid-related restrictions were lifted after the pandemic hammered the hospitality, tourism and leisure industries in the past few years.
The company, spun off from Bidvest in 2016, said headline earnings per share rose to 971.7 cents in the six months ended 31 December, from 668 cents a year earlier. Net revenue rose by 28.1% to R91.8bn and group trading profit increased by 43.9% to R4.9bn, as revenue across all divisions rose significantly from the previous first half.
Bidcorp said this reflected the benefits of high inflation but also represented real double-digit growth in activity levels.
Volatile operating conditions
Looking ahead, Bidcorp said operating conditions are likely to remain volatile and challenging with ongoing staff shortages, supply chain disruptions and stubbornly high inflation.
"Despite the anticipated slowdown in discretionary spend due to tougher economic conditions, current activity levels across our diverse customer base remain positive, fortunately with no significant evidence of a slowdown yet," the company added.
