Wrap Text
Group financial results and cash dividend declaration for the year ended June 2026
RCL FOODS LIMITED
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
ISIN: ZAE000179438
Share Code: RCL
("RCL FOODS" or "the Company" or "the Group")
GROUP FINANCIAL RESULTS AND CASH DIVIDEND DECLARATION FOR THE YEAR
ENDED JUNE 2026
- Revenue from continuing operations* down 4.1% to R24,5
billion (2025: restated** R25,5 billion)
- Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and
impairments (EBITDA)from continuing operations down 15.2% to
R2 174,4 million
- Underlying*** EBITDA from continuing operations down 8.6% to
R2 184,7 million
- Total headline earnings per share (HEPS) and HEPS from
continuing operations down 32.8% to 105.1 cents
- Underlying headline earnings from continuing operations down
27.1% to R951,4 million
- Underlying HEPS from continuing operations down 27.5% to
105.9 cents
- Total earnings per share (EPS) down 53.3% to 84.1 cents
- Total dividend per share declared for the 2026 financial
year: 40.0 cents (2025: 60.0 cents)
* Continuing operations relates to the remaining RCL FOODS business, comprising
the Groceries, Baking, Sugar and Group (shared services) segments, post the
Rainbow unbundling effected on 1 July 2024.
** Revenue from continuing operations for the prior year was restated for a
reclassification between revenue and cost of sales. Refer to the “Restatement”
section provided as part of the summary consolidated financial statements for
further details.
***The underlying view of the results excludes material once-offs and accounting
adjustments. Underlying results constitute pro-forma financial information in
terms of the JSE Listings Requirements. Refer to the “Reconciliation between
unadjusted and underlying results” section provided as part of the summary
consolidated financial statements for further details.
RCL FOODS’ underlying EBITDA from continuing operations declined
8.6% to R2 184,7 million (2025: R2 390,6 million), due mainly to
significantly lower Sugar and Pet Food results. Sugar was
materially impacted by deep-sea imports, enabled by ineffective
tariff protection which displaced local-market sales into the
lower-priced raw export market, while Pet Food was constrained by
food-safety-related production disruptions which constrained
supply and our ability to meet demand in the second half of the
financial year.
Underlying headline earnings declined 27.1%, largely due to the
decline in underlying EBITDA, compounded by a R127,2 million lower
share of profits from our associate, Royal Eswatini Sugar (RES)
who were also impacted by adverse sugar market dynamics.
Within Groceries, good performances in Culinary and Beverages were
offset by production disruptions at one of our dry pet food plants.
Culinary delivered higher margins achieved through continuous
improvement (CI) and net revenue management (NRM) initiatives and
volume growth in dressings, while Beverages benefited from a
favourable product mix, CI initiatives and operational
efficiencies. Pet Food’s performance was materially impacted by the
detection of Salmonella in some of our dry pet food products, which
necessitated a nationwide product recall and resulted in
disruptions to production and stock write-offs.
Baking delivered an improved result aided by manufacturing
efficiencies and lower overhead costs. Bread, Buns and Rolls
performance was supported through CI savings and disciplined
pricing, despite lower Sunshine volumes and higher fuel costs.
Milling was impacted by lower volumes and plant reliability issues.
Pieman’s delivered improved profitability through manufacturing and
CI savings and innovation, despite fuel and meat cost pressures.
Speciality delivered another pleasing result, despite volumes
declining 2.6%, aided by operational efficiencies and growth into
new categories.
Sugar reported a significantly lower result due to high volumes of
deep-sea imports, enabled by the absence of effective tariff
protection, which resulted in lower local-market sales (total
industry local market volumes down 10.3%) and as a result a
greater proportion of sugar volume being sold into the lower
priced export market (total industry export market volumes up
48.3%). International raw sugar prices fell by 22.6% on average
over the year to around 14 US cents per pound in June 2026, which
together with a stronger average Rand/Dollar exchange rate lowered
realised Rand export prices for the current year. Due to the
ineffective tariff, the Sugar Industry did not take any sales
price increases in the local market during the current year,
despite incurring inflationary input cost increases. The gap
between realised local and export sales prices was in the region
of R7,000/ton (51.9% lower than the local price) on average during
the current year, highlighting the significant impact that an
increase in export sales has on profitability for our Sugar
business. Despite these external headwinds, the business delivered
a good operational result, underpinned by improved agricultural
and manufacturing performance. The Molatek operating unit
delivered another good result driven by an improved sales mix,
together with production and CI efficiencies, partially offset by
lower volumes largely due to the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.
A R206,1 million impairment was recognised in the Sunshine
operations, which continues to struggle to recover volumes
following the December 2024 labour disruption at the Durban bakery.
Discontinued operations results in the prior year relates to the
non-cash gain of R198,5 million realised on accounting for the
unbundling of Rainbow, as well as a R7,3 million downward
adjustment on finalisation of the Vector Logistics profit on
disposal.
Prospects
Our focus for the financial year ahead remains on the factors
within our control, with CI, NRM and innovation remaining key
themes across all operations. Following the production disruptions
experienced in Pet Food in the current year, our focus going
forward will include executing the recovery plan and restoring
customer confidence and market share. In Sugar, an easing of deep-
sea imports and an improved balance between local-market and
exports sales is expected following revisions to the Dollar-based
reference price implemented in August 2026.
Cash Dividend Declaration
The Board of Directors has approved a gross final cash dividend
(number 101) of 25.0 cents per share (20.0 cents per share net of
dividend withholding tax) for the year ended June 2026.
The dividend has been declared from income reserves.
A dividend withholding tax of 20% will be applicable to all
shareholders who are not exempt.
The issued share capital at the declaration date is 899 810 897
ordinary shares. The company’s income tax reference number is
9950019712.
The salient dates for the dividend will be as follows:
Publication of declaration data Monday, 31 August 2026
Last day of trade to receive a dividend Tuesday, 13 October 2026
Shares commence trading “ex” dividend Wednesday, 14 October 2026
Record date Friday, 16 October 2026
Payment date Monday, 19 October 2026
Share certificates may not be dematerialised or rematerialised
between Wednesday, 14 October 2026 and Friday, 16 October 2026,
both days inclusive.
Shareholders are advised that this results announcement which has
been prepared in compliance with the JSE Listings Requirements,
represents a summary of the information contained in the summary
consolidated financial statements and does not contain full or
complete details as published on the RCL FOODS website,
www.rclfoods.com/financial-results-and-reports-2026/.
With respect to the audited consolidated financial statements for
the year ended June 2026, the auditors, Ernst and Young Inc., have
issued an unmodified audit opinion in terms of the International
Standards on Auditing. The auditors unqualified audit opinion in
terms of International Standards on Auditing, along with their key
audit matters and the audited consolidated annual financial
statements are available upon request by contacting the company
secretary at CoSec@rclfoods.com or on +27 31 242 8500.
The summary consolidated financial statements is available for
viewing on the JSE link at
https://senspdf.jse.co.za/documents/2026/JSE/ISSE/RCL/31082026.pdf
or on the Group’s website set out above.
Any investment decisions by investors and/or shareholders should
be based on a consideration of the summary consolidated financial
statements as this results announcement does not provide all the
details.
Westville
31 August 2026
Sponsor
RAND MERCHANT BANK (A division of FirstRand Bank Limited)
Date: 31/08/2026 05:05:00
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