Johannesburg - South African conglomerate Bidvest Group reported an 8.6 percent rise in annual profit on Monday, buoyed by its food service business.
Bidvest, whose business spans auto showrooms, shipping and catering, said diluted headline earnings per share totalled 1 882 cents in year to end-June, slightly better than the mean estimate of 11 analysts in a Reuters poll.
Headline EPS is the most widely watched profit measure in South Africa and strips out certain one-off items.
Bidvest is largely insulated from tough economic conditions at home thanks to its large food business in Asia and Europe, where it makes about half of its sales.
Sales rose 11.6 percent to R204.9 billion ($15.41 billion).
REUTERS