Freshpak-owner cuts 428 jobs

Fast-moving consumer goods business AVI saw its year-end headcount reduce from 9,108 in 2025 to 8,680 in 2026, a reduction of 428 employees.

AVI released its results for the year through June 2026 on Monday, 7 September, which revealed a strong performance.

AVI is a fast-moving consumer goods company with 50 well-known brands in its portfolio, including Five Roses, Freshpak, Bakery, Willards, Yardley, and Green Cross.

For its 2026 financial year, the group reported revenue of R16.24 billion, up 1.37% from the 2025 financial year.

While a modest topline increase, AVI managed to protect its margins and reported a profit of R2.56 billion for the year, up 5.57% year-on-year.

AVI’s basic earnings per share grew by 4.85% to 768.1 cents, while headline earnings per share were up 5.32% to 767.9 cents.

The group pointed out that these strong results were achieved despite a challenging consumer climate, defined by constrained disposable income and high unemployment.

AVI also noted that a deterioration in municipal infrastructure in key operating regions increased the cost and complexity of maintaining efficient operations.

“Despite these conditions, the group focused on protecting volumes, preserving margins and optimising returns through disciplined pricing, cost management and operational efficiency initiatives,” AVI said. 

“Management continues to prioritise productivity improvements and cost optimisation while maintaining competitive market positions across our portfolios.”

The effect of these initiatives was clearly evident in AVI’s Personal Care segment, which saw its revenue decline by 5.1% to R877 million for the year.

Despite this lower revenue and sales volumes, the segment’s disciplined cost structure allowed it to grow its operating profit by 2.68% to R160.9 million.

Another way in which AVI reduced costs this year was by reducing headcount. Its year-end headcount decreased from 9,108 in 2025 to 8,680 in 2026, a reduction of 428 employees.

This was largely done by shrinking headcount in the group’s Food and Beverages Brands segment, where the workforce fell from 2,586 to 2,176.

This headcount reduction saw AVI’s employee costs for this segment decline by 5.14% year-on-year to R1.12 billion. In total, it declined by 0.36% to R3.47 billion.

AVI also benefited from a turnaround in its integrated fishing division, Irvin & Johnson (I&J), which is the group’s largest employer, accounting for 40% of the workforce.

The segment generated R318 million in operating profit, a 32.1% increase from 2025, making it the fastest-growing business unit in terms of percentage for the year.

AVI’s European expansion is also bearing fruit, with the group having generated R1.47 billion in revenue from Europe, up 19.1% year-on-year.

This means Europe’s contribution to total consolidated revenue now stands at 9.1%, up from 7.7% in 2025.

On the back of these strong results, AVI declared a final dividend of 418 cents per share, as well as a special dividend of 300 cents.

Combined with its interim dividend of 245 cents declared earlier this year, the group is set to pay out R3.24 billion in dividends to shareholders.