Industrial giant Bidvest has reported its highest-ever trading profit in its automotive, branded products and commercial products and service divisions.
The group, which on Monday released its results for the year ended 30 June 2021, said its trading profit grew by 48% to R7.9 billion and its operations generated R13.6 billion in cash.
Its normalised headline earnings per share from continuing operations rose by almost 26% to 292c. Bidvest declared a total dividend of 600 cents.
Bidvest said the demand for its products and services began stabilising towards the tail end of the reporting period, exceeding expectations in many instances. The performance of its commercial products was assisted by the division’s market share gains, improved factory recoveries and expense management.
In its automotive division, Bidvest said its focus on margins and not volume, as well as improving its efficiency and managing tis expenses, resulted in profit growth, despite a decrease in vehicle demand.
Branded Products’ result, which includes (pharmaceutical group) Adcock, was good considering the significant demand disruption caused by the hybrid way of working and learning, and no flu season,” said Bidvest.
The company said good investment returns had played a role in the “reasonable” performance of its financial services business. Its UK and Spain hygiene services provider, PHS, performed beyond expectations, while in South Africa the services business also reported good results, despite the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown, such as travel bans.