Food services company Bid Corporation (Bidcorp) reported a 45.5% jump in half-year earnings on Wednesday, benefiting from resurgent demand across the hospitality, tourism, and leisure sectors.
Bidcorp said in a statement that it was seeing a continued pickup in demand across all of its 35 countries, as Covid-19-related restrictions were lifted after the pandemic hammered the hospitality, tourism and leisure industries in the past few years.
The company, spun off from Bidvest in 2016, said headline earnings per share (HEPS) - the main profit measure in South Africa - rose to 971.7c in the six months ended Dec. 31, from 668c a year earlier.
Net revenue rose by 28.1% to R91.8-billion and group trading profit increased by 43.9% to R4.9-billion, as revenue across all divisions rose significantly from the previous first half.
Bidcorp said this reflected the benefits of high inflation but also represented real double-digit growth in activity levels.
Looking ahead, Bidcorp said operating conditions are likely to remain volatile and challenging with ongoing staff shortages, supply chain disruptions and stubbornly high inflation.
"Despite the anticipated slowdown in discretionary spend due to tougher economic conditions, current activity levels across our diverse customer base remain positive, fortunately with no significant evidence of a slowdown yet," the company added.