Johannesburg –
Bidvest Group’s Namibian business profits nosedived by 80.6 percent for the six
months ended December.
The
listed company says this is due to reduced fishing quotas in Namibia.
It
says, in its results commentary, that it’s trading profit in the country
declined by 86 percent to R23 million.
“Profits driven down due to lack of fishing quota
allocations – horse mackerel quotas insufficient to fully utilise catching
capacity, despite the sale of two vessels.”
Last
year, Namibia’s government amended its Fisheries Act to give
meaning to the earlier act through weighting and scoring specific criteria of
allocating quotas to right holders.
Meanwhile,
the company’s South Africa operations performed well in the period buoyed good
performance from its services business.
The
group’s services arm accounted for 27 percent of the group’s total trading
company says its total trading profit increased by 3.2 percent to R2.8 billion
as revenue went up 4.1 percent to R36 billion.
Bidvest’s
earnings per share went up 39.6 percent, while headline earnings increased by
5.6 percent, with headline earnings per share going up 4.4 percent.
Headline earnings per share are seen as a key indicator
of financial performance as they strip out once-off and unusual items.
The company declared an interim dividend of R2.27 per
share.
BUSINESS
REPORT ONLINE