INTERIM RESULTS
Dumping of chicken hit group’s performance, says RCL Foods CEO
The company had to impair R142m of plant and equipment related to the decision to reduce commodity chicken volumes
RCL Foods saw earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) plunge 21.9% for the six months ended December 2016, with the related margin falling 2% to 6.9%. Headline earnings per share plummeted 44.8% in the period. "The single biggest impact on financial performance has been chicken [dumping]," CEO Miles Dally said on Thursday. The group had laid off 1,355 workers — or half the workforce — at its large Hammarsdale operations in KwaZulu-Natal. Dally said it was well known that the dumping of chicken products was taking place in South African markets. This had mostly been blamed on the EU and had caused the government to implement a 13.9% safeguard duty that the industry considered to be substantially inadequate. The group had initiated a number of strategies to ensure its remaining chicken operations would be more profitable and sustainable in future. This included reducing volumes. Meanwhile, producers and workers were engaged in a series of talks with the g...
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