DURBAN - BID CORPORATION (Bidcorp) yesterday reported a huge decline in half-year earnings, negatively impacted by the catastrophic economic and social consequences of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic on the hospitality, tourism and leisure industries globally.
Its headline earnings per share from continuing operations fell by 46.2 percent to 391.6 cents a share for the six months to end December, down from 728.3c and basic earnings per share from continuing operations decreased by 38.1 percent to 449.2c compared to 725.4c reported last year.
However, the group said the currency volatility had positively impacted the rand-translated results by 6.6 percent.
Bidcorp chief executive Bernard Berson said: “Against the backdrop of ongoing catastrophic economic and social impacts following the Covid-19 pandemic, our good asset management, excellent free cash flows and healthy profitability have underpinned the pandemic-affected results over the period.”
The international broad-line foodservice group reported a 10.9 percent decline in revenue to R60.8 billion, knocked by the Covid-19 pandemic on hospitality markets that had been prevalent in all operating geographies throughout the reporting period.
Its group sales reached 87 percent of last year’s comparative period for the week to end August 2, but declined to a low of 68 percent compared to the corresponding week of November 29.
Looking ahead, Bidcorp said its current focus was to operate at the new normal that existed in many markets due to Covid-19.
BUSINESS REPORT