Hard times cut swathe through Rhodes profit
The food producer issues a dire trading update
Rhodes Food Group’s shares slumped 18.4% in intraday trade on Monday as low economic growth and the Western Cape drought took a toll on results. The owner of Bull Brand, Magpie and Bisto issued a dire trading update that showed it was heading for another disastrous financial year, with earnings expected to fall as much as 41%. This triggered the free-fall in the share price, which closed 10.43% down at R16.48. The expected poor performance in the year to September 30 could slow the company’s immediate ambitions to drive organic growth and increase the market share of its brands in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Western Cape-based company on Monday said it expects earnings per share to decrease 31%-41%, while headline earnings per share are likely to fall 30%-40%. This marks a continuation of last year’s performance when headline earnings fell 34.8%. Profit in 2017 was down 35.1% to R80.9m.
The 2017 financial year — the company’s worst since it listed on the JSE on October 2 2014 — wa...
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