August 28, 2009

Country Bird, South Africa's third-largest poultry firm with a nine percent market share, saw its first half revenue rising 32.5 percent on-year to ZAR2.24 billion.

Attributable profit was up 466 percent, from ZAR22.2 million in 2008 to ZAR125.6 million in the first half of this year.

Country Bird financial director Robbie Taylor said acquisitions over the year had partly helped in the result, even though investments in Zambia and Botswana had only started to benefit the bottom line towards the end of the year.

Local poultry operations reported operating profits of ZAR155 million, while volumes grew four percent.

Regional operations, however, failed to perform well due to a collapse in consumer spending and pressure from competition in Zambia, and a fire at Botswana's largest slaughterhouse had affected demand for broiler day-old chicks.