General trading update ASTRAL FOODS LIMITED “Astral Foods” (Reg. No. 1978/003194/06) (Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa) Share Code: ARL ISIN Code: ZAE000029757 GENERAL TRADING UPDATE Shareholders are advised that Astral Foods’ Earnings per Share (EPS) for the 12 months ending 30 September 2018 is expected to be at least 80% up on the previous year. This implies that the EPS for the twelve months ending 30 September 2018 is expected to be at least 3 506 cents per share (2017: 1 948 cents per share). Headline Earnings per Share (HEPS) for the 12 months ending 30 September 2018 is expected to be at least 85% up on the previous year. This implies that the HEPS for the twelve months ending 30 September 2018 is expected to be at least 3 513 cents per share (2017: 1 899 cents per share). The improvement in the financial results for the 12 months ending 30 September 2018 is mainly as a result of the following: - Profits reported for the first half of 2018, which ended on 31 March 2018, reflected a marked improvement on the results for the comparative period that was adversely impacted by abnormally high feed costs. - The result for 2018 includes net finance income, whereas in the comparative period, the group reported net finance costs of R14,8 million. - Although the results for the second half of 2018 are comparable with that of the second half of 2017, poultry sales volumes and selling prices came under pressure towards the end of the 2018 financial year due to a weakening in consumer demand. Increases in the fuel price and the VAT rate have had a negative impact on the consumer, with current trading conditions not as favourable as in the corresponding reporting period of the previous year. A trading statement will be published once a more definitive range of the expected earnings can be provided. It is expected that the results for the 12 months ending 30 September 2018 will be published on SENS on 19 November 2018. The information on which this general trading update is based has not been reviewed and reported on by Astral Foods’ auditors. Pretoria 19 September 2018 Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking, a division of Nedbank Limited Sponsor Date: 19/09/2018 08:00:00 Produced by the JSE SENS Department. The SENS service is an information dissemination service administered by the JSE Limited ('JSE'). The JSE does not, whether expressly, tacitly or implicitly, represent, warrant or in any way guarantee the truth, accuracy or completeness of the information published on SENS. The JSE, their officers, employees and agents accept no liability for (or in respect of) any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential loss or damage of any kind or nature, howsoever arising, from the use of SENS or the use of, or reliance on, information disseminated through SENS.