Owner of South Africa’s favourite rusks going strong

RCL Foods delivered a solid performance in the last six months of 2024, as the food producer benefitted from lower load-shedding and its strong brands.

RCL Foods, which owns well-known brands like Dogmor, Nola, Ouma, Yum Yum, and Selati, released its results for the first half of its 2025 financial year, which covers the six months through December 2024.

This is the company’s first set of results since it made major structural changes in 2024. This included selling Vector Logistics and unbundling its Rainbow Chicken business. 

The company said the completion of these transactions allows it to focus exclusively on growing what matters in a future fit, branded business.

RCL Foods said it has specifically focused on driving profitable growth during the current period.

The food producer reported strong results, with revenue up 5.% to R13.6 billion and EBITDA growth of 25.1% to R1.55 billion.

The company’s profit for the period grew by 15.05% to R1.17 billion. Basic earnings were up 12.77% to 135.1 cents per share.

Notably, the company also successfully refinanced R1.5 billion in term debt at lower interest margins in this six-month period.

The company said this is a positive indicator of the financial market’s view of its risk profile, which supports the market’s continued appetite and willingness to partner with RCL Foods.

RCL Foods said it continues to focus on maximising its performance in terms of those factors under its influence and control. 

“We are pleased with our progress in delivering on our continuous-improvement, cost-efficiency

and net-revenue-management initiatives, which have contributed positively to our underlying performance,” the company said.

It added that it has judiciously managed price increases, mindful of consumers’ financial constraints and has begun to see some welcomed price relief in certain commodities such as wheat, though prices remain elevated. 

“The absence of load-shedding in the current period under review has also had a positive effect on costs with lower fuel costs,” it said. 

In its 2023 financial year, RCL Foods reported that load-shedding cost the company R158.3 million (pre-tax) and impacted service levels.

“Our market shares largely remain healthy and are a sign of our continued relevance in the market and the validity of our strategic and management focus,” the company said in its latest results.

It added that one of its brands, Ouma Rusks, remains the country’s most loved rusk brand, with a 60.0% market share in December 2024.

RCL Foods declared an interim dividend of 20 cents per share.