The two largest poultry producers in South Africa, Astral Foods and Rainbow, continue to produce improved results after a disastrous 2023 caused by bird flu, power outages and high feed costs.
The improvement was noted by Astral when it reported half-year results in May. Now it expects the turnaround to produce a full-year profit after the loss in 2023 – the first in the company’s history.
In a trading statement ahead of its results announcement later this month, Astral said earnings per share were expected to increase between 240% and 250% compared to the previous year. This would turn the 2023 loss of 1 333 cents per share into earnings of between 1 866 and 2 000 cents per share, Astral said.
Rainbow, which reported enhanced profits for the year to June 2024, is expecting “strongly‑improved profitability and financial returns”, it said in its annual report.
“Revenues are expected to be supported by increased pricing to recover higher input costs, and more general demand improvement in line with expected growth in demand for chicken as an affordable, quality protein source in a pressurised consumer environment,” Rainbow stated.
