The South African food producer bringing Five Roses tea, Bakers biscuits, and Willards chips to Europe

South African food producer AVI is seeing strong export growth in Europe, with this market now accounting for 9.1% of the group’s revenue.

This has been a long time coming for AVI, which first entered the European market through its frozen food and seafood subsidiary, I&J.

In the years since, AVI has begun exporting some of its other brands to Europe as well, with this global market now paying dividends for the company.

Founded in 1944 through the unbundling of the Anglovaal group’s interests, AVI is a branded consumer products company.

It comprises trading subsidiaries that manufacture, process, market, and distribute branded consumer products in the food, beverage, footwear, apparel, and cosmetics sectors.

AVI’s portfolio spans 50 brands, including Five Roses, Freshpak, Frisco, House of Coffees, Bakers, Provita, Willards, I&J, Yardley, Spitz, Kurt Geiger, and Lacoste.

Headquartered in Johannesburg, AVI has the majority of its operations in South Africa, though it has also exported products to Europe and other global markets for decades.

The group released its results for the year through June 2026 on Monday, 7 September, which revealed how the brand’s European exports have expanded.

AVI’s European expansion strategy is focused on high-margin manufacturing in South Africa exported directly to overseas distributors.

For decades, I&J, or Irvin & Johnson, has been the backbone of AVI’s European operations, exporting premium value-added seafood to European retail and foodservice distributors.

In recent years, AVI’s presence in Europe has grown, expanding into other brands, and the continent has become an increasingly large revenue driver.

Prior to AVI’s 2022 financial year, European revenue was reported under the broader “Rest of the World” umbrella.

However, due to Europe’s increasing financial materiality, AVI updated its segment reporting by formally disaggregating Europe as its own geographical market.

This gave investors more detailed insight into the company’s European operations, revealing the value AVI has unlocked.

European growth

In the 2022 financial year, AVI’s European operations generated R1 billion in revenue, accounting for 7.2% of group income.

In AVI’s latest financial year, European revenue grew to R1.47 billion, accounting for 9.1% of total revenue.

Given this growing revenue driver, AVI has invested in expanding its export volume to Europe.

Investments have largely centred on increasing vessel capacity, including commissioning new freezer trawlers in earlier years and acquiring the freezer vessel Umlungisi.

Umlungisi began fishing in February 2025 to increase I&J’s export hake capacity, one of its most popular European products.

Since AVI’s European export revenues are earned in euros and US dollars, the company has also implemented currency hedging programmes to protect European profit margins against exchange rate fluctuations.

In its 2026 results presentation, the company said this consistent hedging philosophy provides stability, allowing AVI to manage its gross profit margins.

I&J remains responsible for the vast majority of AVI’s European income, accounting for 96% to 99% of revenue from the continent.

However, AVI’s other businesses that export to Europe, namely Snackworks and Entyce, have also seen their European revenue rise substantially.

Snackworks, which comprises brands such as Bakers, Willards, Provita, and Baker Street, has seen its European revenue go from R4.5 million in 2022 to R7 million in 2026.

Entyce, AVI’s Beverage business that holds brands such as Five Roses, Freshpak, and House of Coffees, has had a more volatile position in Europe.

The business’s European revenue rose from R1 million in 2022 to R6.7 million in 2023, then to R6.8 million in 2024. 

However, in 2025, this figure declined to R1.1 million, reflecting fluctuations in demand from small overseas distributors.

While Europe is a growing segment for AVI, the vast majority of its earnings still derive from South Africa.

For the 2026 financial year, AVI reported revenue of R16.24 billion, up 1.4% from 2025, and a profit increase of 5.5% to R2.56 billion.

Of the R16.24 billion group revenue, South Africa accounted for R13.01 billion, or 80.11%.

Merchant West Investments managing director Alyssa Viljoen pointed out to BusinessDayTV that AVI has the highest margins of any food producer in the world.

She said AVI is highly disciplined in controlling costs and debt, which has resulted in it achieving a 36% return on capital. “That’s incredible for a South African business,” she said.