Pioneer profit up as PepsiCo contract ends

Cases of Pepsi are stacked in front of a convenience store in Omaha, Nebraska.

Cases of Pepsi are stacked in front of a convenience store in Omaha, Nebraska.

Published Nov 24, 2014

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Johannesburg - Pioneer Food said profit rose 35 percent as the South African company recovered from a 2013 writedown of the poultry unit it spun off.

It and PepsiCo ended an agreement to bottle the soda maker’s products in the country.

Net income increased to 947 million rand in the 12 months ended September 30 from 699 million rand a year earlier, the Paarl, South Africa-based company said in a statement today.

The final dividend rose 81 percent to 1.56 rand a share, lifting the total payout 67 percent to 2.21 rand.

Sales rose 9 percent to 17.7 billion rand, it said.

Pioneer will exit a bottling agreement with New York-based PepsiCo after writing down its investment in the business by 34 million rand, it said.

“The Pepsi brand portfolio will however remain in South Africa,” it said.

Pioneer, which makes Sasko bread and Ceres fruit beverages, spun off Quantum Foods Holdings last month after it wrote down the poultry unit’s value by 208 million rand after tax in 2013, and a further 57 million rand this year.

South African consumers have been under pressure this year, with the National Treasury forecasting economic growth of 1.4 percent for 2014, the lowest since a 2009 recession, while the Reserve Bank has raised its benchmark interest rate twice.

Headline earnings, which exclude one-time items, climbed 49 percent to 1.06 billion rand, or 5.76 rand a share, Pioneer said.

“Whilst the South African economy remains vulnerable and is unlikely to recover in the short term, Pioneer Foods has been competitively repositioned to defend and grow its brands,” it said. - Bloomberg News

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