JSE-listed Astral Food expects its headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the six months ended March 31 to reflect an increase of between 155% (598c a share) and 160% (618c a share) compared with the 386c a share of the previous comparable period.

The South African integrated poultry producer said this implied that the HEPS for the six months to March 31 were expected to be between 984c and 1 004c per share.

In February, Astral was reasonably certain that its HEPS for the first half of the year would increase by at least 120%, or 465c a share, to 851c a share compared with the 386c a share reported for the comparable 2014 period.

The company then based the improvement in earnings on trading conditions experienced up to the end of January 2015.

The earnings per share (EPS) for the period under review were also forecast to reflect a significant increase of between 163% (613c a share) and 168% (632c a share) on the 376c a share of the previous comparable period.  

Therefore, EPS for the six months to March 31 was expected to be between 989c and 1 008c a share.

In February, Astral attributed the improved results for the period under reivew to healthy global maize and soya crops, which resulted in the softening of grain prices and, subsequently, benefited feed prices and livestock production costs. The increased feed volumes that included production from the recently commissioned Standerton feed mill, in Mpumalanga, previously supplied by Afgri, were also highlighted, as were increased poultry sale volumes. In particular, Astral Foods noted its expansion in the Western Cape, which included broiler chickens, formerly processed by Tydstroom Poultry and currently contracted from diversified feeds and poultry business Quantum Foods, which owned Tydstroom.  

Astral noted that the increased poultry sale volumes were the result of good poultry production efficiencies and the fact that cutbacks in the year-ago comparative period were not being repeated.

“It is [also] notable that Astral did not benefit from lower levels of imports, especially bone-in portions from European Union countries, as the temporary antidumping measures introduced by the International Trade Administration Commission did not have the desired impact,” the company explained.

This latest financial information had yet to be reviewed and reported on by Astral’s auditors, while the results for the six months to March 31 were still scheduled to be published on May 18.

The company's key activities currently consisted of animal feed premixes, manufacturing of animal feeds, broiler genetics, and the production and sale of day-old chicks. The company employed in excess of 12 000 people at present and processed more than 200-million broiler chickens a year through three hazard analysis and critical control points-approved abattoirs.