RFG Holdings increased revenue by 21.2% in the 11 months to August 2022, the group announced in a trading update released on the stock exchange news service (SENS). In the first six months of the 2022 financial year RFG reported revenue growth of 20.9%.
Chief executive officer Pieter Hanekom said growth was driven by ongoing strong international demand for canned fruit and fruit puree products and a resilient performance in the regional segment against the background of the deteriorating consumer spending environment.
He said RFG continues to experience significant inflationary pressures from higher input costs caused by rising global commodity prices, particularly in tin cans, meat and oils.
“We have made good progress in protecting margins by recovering the increased costs from customers and consumers, but it is still proving challenging to fully recover cost increases in certain key product categories,” said Hanekom.
Revenue in the group’s regional segment, which includes South Africa and the rest of Africa, increased by 11.5% with volume growth of 5.2% and price inflation and product mix changes of 6.3%.
- Fresh foods revenue increased by 18.0% with the Today pie business, acquired in February 2022, contributing 6.9% of the revenue growth.
- Long life foods turnover grew by 7.9%, with volume growth of 4.0%. The growth was mainly driven by fruit juice, the largest long life category, and dry foods.
- Long life foods sales into the rest of Africa again showed good growth of 16.4%, supported by juice, canned meat and dry foods sales.
International turnover increased by 66.2% as export volumes grew by 22.5%. “The high demand for our products has been supported by the failure of last year’s peach crop in Greece, the world’s largest exporter of canned peaches, while we continue to diversify our international sales and expand into new markets. Our international performance also profited from the weakening currency which increased revenue for the period by approximately R87 million,” he said.