Astral Foods full year revenue up eight percent

South Africa's Astral Foods Limited saw its revenue up eight percent on-year to ZAR8.8 billion from the year-ago level of ZAR8.2 billion.

Operating profit increased six percent on-year to ZAR580.9 million from last year's ZAR547.8 million.

The Poultry Division's revenue grew 13 percent to ZAR5.5 billion despite a five-percent drop in sales volumes. Operating profit jumped 73 percent to ZAR281.6 million from ZAR162.9 million in 2008. The division's operating margin also increased to 5.2 percent this year from 3.4 percent in 2008.

Astral Foods reduced the slaughter age of birds from 37 to 35 days due to high feed costs and lower consumer spending. This move when combined with higher poultry prices helped to increase the margin, said Chris Schutte, chief executive officer of Astral Foods.

The Feed Division's performance was affected by reduced livestock feeding requirements, leading to excess capacity which squeezed margins. Revenue remained stable at ZAR5.1 billion, though it was impacted by higher sales prices offset by a volume decrease of eight percent compared to the previous year. Operating profit fell 22 percent to ZAR99.3 million, while operating margins dropped to 5.8 percent from 7.5 percent in 2008.

Astral Foods is a leading South African food group with key activities in animal feeds, animal feed pre-mixes, broiler genetic breeding and broiler operations, as well as the production and sale of day-old broilers and hatching eggs.

US$1 = ZAR7.54248 (Nov 20)