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Johannesburg - South African integrated food and beverage group Famous Brands (FBR) on Monday reported 51% jump in fully diluted headline earnings per share to 73.1 cents.
An interim dividend of 33c was declared - up 83% from 18c declared during the same period last year.
Revenue rose 27% to R514.1m, operating profit increased 56% to R109.3m and the operating margin was up 23% to 21.3%.
Famous Brands, which owns fast-food chains such as Wimpy, Steers and Debonairs Pizza, described the results as solid despite a series of interest rates hikes.
Kevin Hedderwick, chief operating officer of Famous Brands, said a key driver to the group's strong performance was the continued shift by consumers towards convenience and out of home consumption being fuelled by the emerged middle class.
Like-on-like sales net of new restaurant openings within the Domestic Franchising division grew by 8.9% compared with the previous period and system-wide sales grew by 16%. This resulted in a 15% increase in revenue to R122.3m and a 29% improvement in operating profit for the division to R67.8m.
A total of 34 new restaurants were opened during the period and a further 70 new restaurant openings are planned before the end of the group's financial year.
"Astute procurement strategies and better extraction of synergies from the Manufacturing and Logistics divisions enabled Famous Brands to contain menu price increases across its brand portfolio to below that of food inflation," the group said.
Internationally the Wimpy acquisition in the United Kingdom has been successfully bedded down, the operation has been right-sized and the new strategic plan for the business was in the process of being implemented, the group said, adding that the first of the new-look Wimpy retail outlets had been opened in Essex.
On gross revenue of R33.8m, the division achieved an operating profit of R12.4m, which equates to a healthy operating profit margin of 36.7%.
There's been a restructuring of the Food Services division into stand-alone Manufacturing and Logistics divisions, which will facilitate greater focus on these specialised areas of the business.
The restructuring also better aligns the two divisions with the Group's strategic business model.
The combined revenue from the two divisions was up 20% to R358.3m and operating profit increased 72% to R26.7m.
Looking ahead, Hedderwick said the cooling off of the economy would continue, but he expected a better performance in the second half due to the seasonality of the convenience food business.
- I-Net Bridge