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| Contribution to headline earnings | 30 June 2023 R million |
30 June 2022 R million |
|---|---|---|
| Distell | ||
| – entity contribution | 555 | 735 |
| – IFRS 3 charge | (32) | (11) |
| Heineken Beverages | ||
| – entity contribution | (75) | – |
| – IFRS 3 charge | (6) | – |
| Capevin | 14 | – |
| RCL Foods | 488 | 846 |
| Siqalo Foods | ||
| – entity contribution | 344 | 401 |
| – IFRS 3 charge | (80) | (65) |
| 1 208 | 1 906 | |
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Profile:
Heineken Beverages was formed on 26 April 2023 following the merger of Heineken South Africa, Distell and Namibia Breweries Limited. The company’s brand portfolio includes the global flagship brand Heineken as well as many other world-class brands, such as Savanna, Windhoek Lager and Nederburg. Heineken Beverages is firmly rooted in Southern Africa, directly employing over 5 000 people.
Corporate information
Sustainability measures
| FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS | Two months to 30 June 2023 |
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|---|---|---|
| R million | ||
| Revenue | 5 782 | |
| Operating loss before additional | ||
| IFRS 3 adjustments | (69) | |
| Loss before additional IFRS 3 adjustments | (108) | |
Heineken Beverages Holdings Limited (Heineken Beverages)
The results for Heineken Beverages represent only two months of trading at 30 June 2023, with no comparable results for the prior year – as a result meaningful insights from the results will only be forthcoming following a longer trading period.
Heineken Beverages’ contribution to Remgro’s headline earnings, which consists of Remgro’s portion of Heineken Beverages’ results for the two months ended 30 June 2023, amounted to a loss of R75 million. Heineken Beverages’ results include amortisation and depreciation charges of R56 million relating to the additional assets identified when Heineken Beverages obtained control over Distell and Namibia Breweries on 26 April 2023 (IFRS 3 adjustments). Excluding these charges, Heineken Beverages’ contribution amounted to a loss of R19 million, mainly as a result of a constrained consumer environment and load shedding affecting consumer behaviour, as well as supply chain challenges, most notably on malt and glass, due to global price volatility, local supplier constraints and volatile demand.
In addition to Heineken Beverages’ contribution, Remgro also accounted for amortisation and depreciation charges of R6 million relating to the additional assets identified when Remgro obtained significant influence over Heineken Beverages.
Heineken Beverages is well-positioned to capture significant growth opportunities in South Africa and relevant markets in Africa. The business will be able to leverage and optimise the manufacturing footprint of Heineken SA, Distell and Namibia Breweries, leading to more efficient use of its assets and driving increased profitability of the combined business as it grows.
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Profile:
Capevin was unbundled from Distell at the end of April 2023 as part of the Heineken/Distell transaction. With the disposal of the Gordon’s Gin brand to Diageo, the largest remaining asset with Capevin going forward is the Scotch Whisky business – CVH Spirits. The company owns award-winning brands which include the single malt trade marks of Bunnahabhain, Deanston, Tobermory and Ledaig and the blended Scotch whiskies of Scottish Leader and Black Bottle.
Corporate information
Sustainability measures
| FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS | 12 months to 30 June 2023 |
|---|---|
| R million | |
| Revenue | 2 897 |
| Operating loss | (15) |
| Loss from continuing operations | (111) |
Capevin Holdings Proprietary Limited (Capevin)
Capevin’s contribution to Remgro’s headline earnings, which consists of Remgro’s portion of Capevin’s results for the two months ended 30 June 2023, amounted to R14 million.
Scotch Whisky as a category performed strongly during the past financial year and the portfolio of premium products with its unique point of difference and strong heritage positioned itself as an attractive option for customers and consumers. The single malt whiskies, which include Bunnahabhain, Deanston, Tobermory and Ledaig, delivered double digit revenue growth. Scottish Leader and Black Bottle also delivered strong growth in Taiwan and South Korea respectively. A new distribution agreement for Scottish Leader in South Africa has been agreed with Craft Liquor Merchants.
Since the acquisition of the whisky business in 2013, a substantial amount of single malt inventory was laid down in casks, which will become available for sale in the coming years to help support strong growth across the portfolio.
During the year, CVH Spirits continued to distribute and manage the wider portfolio of Distell’s Wines in Europe and Amarula Cream across key international geographies. Both the South African Wine category and Amarula Cream had a challenging year under review with revenue and gross profit showing a double digit decline on prior year. Supply chain challenges and ongoing shipment delays from South Africa also contributed to this performance. The distribution of Wine and Amarula will transition to Heineken Beverages during the 2024 financial year.
In May 2023, Castle Wine entered into a binding agreement with Diageo SA to terminate its licence to distribute Gordon’s Gin and Pimm’s brands at fair value, subject to regulatory approvals. Subsequent to financial year-end The Competition Commission South Africa unconditionally approved the transfer of the licence. The 12-month financial results of the disposed Gordon’s Gin’s business (revenue of R2.3 billion and operating profit of R225 million) has been excluded from the above disclosed revenue and profit numbers in line with IFRS where this needs to be shown as discontinued operations in the income statement.
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Profile:
RCL Foods is a holding company with diversified interests that focuses on two divisions: Food (Groceries, Baking and Sugar) and Rainbow (chicken, including Epol Animal Feed).
Corporate information
Sustainability measures
| FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS | Year ended 30 June 2023 |
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|---|---|---|
| R million | % | |
| Revenue from continuing operations | 37 783 | 17.3 |
| Operating profit from continuing operations | 787 | (46.4) |
| Headline earnings from continuing operations | 540 | (45.6) |
| Headline earnings from total operations | 608 | (42.3) |
RCL Foods Limited (RCL Foods)
For the year ended 30 June 2023, RCL Foods’ headline earnings from total operations (comprising both continued and discontinued operations) decreased by 42.3% to R608 million (2022: R1 054 million). Remgro’s share of the headline earnings from total operations amounted to R488 million (2022: R846 million).
The Vector Logistics segment is classified as a discontinued operation at year-end. The sale of Vector Logistics was completed on 28 August 2023.
RCL Foods’ revenue from continuing operations for the year ended 30 June 2023 increased by 17.3% to R37 783 million (2022: R32 201 million). The increase was attributable to higher pricing necessitated by rising input costs.
The underlying view of RCL Foods results excludes material once-offs and accounting adjustments. The underlying results exclude IFRS 9 (fair value adjustments), the special levy raised by SASA on the sugar business unit, insurance proceeds received relating to the Komatipoort fire and CGU impairments.
The RCL Foods Value-Added Business (Groceries, Baking, Sugar) has delivered an improved set of underlying results despite the challenges posed by high commodity input costs, record levels of load shedding and damage to Sugar agricultural infrastructure during the Nkomazi floods in February 2023. The statutory results were significantly impacted by the sugar industry special levy. Revenue of R24 539 million was 17.3% higher than the prior period (2022: R20 926 million), and underlying EBITDA increased by 10.8% to R2 007.5 million (2022: R1 811.9 million) driven by a strong Sugar performance, partially offset by the impact of load shedding on Pet Food service levels and lower volumes and margins in Groceries and Baking. RCL Foods’ basket and the total Food market both experienced a 0.2% volume decline over the last 12 months as cash-strapped consumers reduced their basket sizes. Despite implementing price increases where feasible, these have been insufficient to offset the cost-push in the Groceries and Baking business units, leading to margin compression. Price increases exacerbated consumer affordability constraints and as a result, volumes declined across most categories.
In the Groceries business unit, revenue of R5 034 million was 6.4% higher than the prior period (2022: R4 732 million), and underlying EBITDA decreased by 16.6% to R405.8 million (2022: R486.5 million). The Groceries operating unit was most impacted by load shedding during the year, with production being reduced by up to 50% of demand in Pet Food from November 2022 to April 2023. To address this challenge, five 1.8MW generators were installed at the Randfontein facility which has enabled an improvement in stock levels, albeit at a significant extra cost.
In the Baking business unit, revenue of R8 625 million was 16.2% higher than the prior period (2022: R7 423 million), and underlying EBITDA decreased by 1.4% to R528 million (2022: R556 million). The underlying EBITDA result was largely in line with the prior year despite lower volumes overall and compressed margins in the Bread, Buns & Rolls operating unit. This was due to the extremely price-competitive bread market.
In the Sugar business unit, revenue of R11 101 million was 23.3% higher than the prior period (2022: R9 001 million), and underlying EBITDA increased by 34.3% to R1 054 million (2022: R785 million). The Sugar business unit had a very strong underlying performance, driven by a combination of improved throughput due to a larger cane crop; increased local sales led by strong growth in the industrial channel; and continued favourable export pricing. Statutory EBITDA was reduced by R234.4 million being the impact of the special levy in the second half of the financial year. Legal process is currently under way in relation to Tongaat’s non-compliance with its statutory obligations owed to SASA under the Sugar Industry Agreement. This decision resulted in the imposition of a special levy on other industry participants during the 2022/2023 season.
Rainbow’s revenue of R13 464 million was 18.3% higher than the prior period (2022: R11 385 million), and underlying EBITDA decreased by 74.9% to R86 million (2022: R343 million). The increase in revenue was due to strong demand, increased market share and price increases in the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) sector. Underlying EBITDA declined by 74.9% to R86.0 million (2022: R342.9 million), with revenue increases proving insufficient to offset the severe impacts of high feed costs, failing municipal infrastructure and load shedding which, in addition to generator costs, also resulted in additional feed and labour requirements. The Animal Feed business was also challenged by load shedding and by margin pressure arising from high commodity input costs and overcapacity in the industry.
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Profile:
Siqalo Foods manufactures spreads which it sells under market-leading trade marks.
Corporate information
Sustainability measures
| FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS | Year ended 30 June 2023 |
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| R million | % | |
| Revenue | 3 748 | 5.7 |
| Operating profit | 375 | (21.2) |
| Headline earnings | 344 | (14.2) |
Siqalo Foods Proprietary Limited (Siqalo Foods)
Siqalo Foods manufactures spreads, which are sold under market-leading trade marks such as Rama, Flora, Stork and Rondo within the Southern African customs union territories.
Siqalo Foods’ contribution to Remgro’s headline earnings for the year under review amounted to R344 million (2022: R401 million), excluding additional IFRS 3 amortisation of R80 million (2022: R65 million). The trading environment remains challenging due to volatile commodity prices and exchange rates, increased load shedding and rising inflation and interest rates. Due to continued cost pressure the business was required to take another price increase in October, the full impact of which the business was unable to pass to the already cash-strapped consumer. Siqalo Foods has experienced a decrease of 5.2% in volumes for the 12 months under review as consumer spend is negatively impacted by the elevated inflationary environment. The decrease in volumes coupled with a 17.6% increase in material cost driven by volatile commodity prices and exchange rates, resulted in a 7.8% overall decrease in operational EBITDA for the 12-month period ended 30 June 2023, which excludes the negative IFRS 9 fair value adjustments of R26.4 million (2022: positive adjustment of R28.8 million) on commodity and foreign exchange contracts entered into as part of the raw material procurement strategy.
The spreads category remains under pressure with the market actualising 0.2% growth in volumes over the last 12 months in comparison to the prior year. Siqalo Foods continues its steady performance in the category and has actualised a slight decline of -1.9% on its 12-month moving average volume market share to 63.8% as at 30 June 2023 compared to 65.2% in the prior year. The business remains committed to grow its brands and volumes in 2024 while recovering its profit margins during these turbulent times.
Two contracts are in place with RCL Foods. Vector Logistics provides the distribution, sales and merchandising, while a management services contract governs certain services that RCL Foods Shared Services platform provides to Siqalo Foods on an arm’s length basis. The result is an innovative, alternative business model, leveraging the capabilities within the wider Remgro Group of companies.
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Profile:
Distell produces and markets fine wines, spirits and flavoured alcoholic beverages in South Africa and internationally.
Sustainability measures
| FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS | 10 months ended 30 April 2023 |
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| R million | % | |
| Revenue | 31 645 | 13.6 |
| EBITDA | 4 257 | 18.8 |
| Headline earnings | 1 835 | (0.8) |
Distell Group Holdings Limited (Distell)
In terms of the scheme of arrangements in terms of section 114 of the Companies Act between Distell and the Distell shareholders – to which Heineken and Heineken Beverages are parties – and as approved by Distell shareholders in February 2022:
- Heineken Beverages acquired all the scheme shares in the Distell entities owning the Distell In-Scope Assets – being the cider, RTD beverages, spirits and wine business of Distell – with effect 1 May 2023 (discontinued operations). Remgro received shares in Heineken Beverages as compensation for the shares it previously held in the Distell In-Scope Assets.
- The Distell Out-of-Scope Assets – the Scotch Whisky and Gordon’s Gin business – remains with Capevin, with Remgro retaining a shareholding in Capevin in the same proportion as its holding in Distell (continuing operations).
Distell’s contribution to Remgro’s headline earnings for the 10 months ended 30 April 2023 amounted to R555 million (2022: R735 million). The comparatives are for the 12 months to 30 June 2022. Including an additional IFRS 3 charge of R32 million accounted for at Remgro level, Distell’s contribution amounted to R523 million (2022: R724 million).
All comparatives are for 10 months ending 30 April 2022.Distell’s reported headline earnings for the 10 months to 30 April 2023 decreased by 5.5% to R1 747 million (2022:R1 849 million). The decrease in headline earnings is mainly due to abnormal merger and integration and deal compensation costs of R619 million (2022: R49 million) relating to the Heineken transaction. Distell’s revenue increased by 13.6% to R31 645 million (R27 862 million) due to higher volumes. Revenue excluding excise duty increased by 15.7%
Southern Africa gross revenue increased by 13.5% with volumes up by 7.5%. Volumes in BLNE (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Eswatini) countries recovered following extended lockdown periods due to Covid-19 in the prior year. Cider and ready-to-drinks (RTDs) grew revenue by double-digits. The growth momentum continues across key brands including Savanna, Extreme and Bernini. The wine category showed revenue growth mainly coming from Drostdy Hof, J.C. Le Roux sparkling wine, and Sedgwick’s Old Brown. Flat growth in the spirits category was experienced due to consumers moving towards value categories. Load shedding remains a serious threat to our customers, affecting sales. The impact is particularly severe in the mainstream market where most of the customers do not have generators or other alternatives.
Africa grew gross revenue by 14.4%, largely driven by Kenya, Mozambique and Zambia, where Distell continues to invest in expanding their route-to-market (RTM). Phenomenal growth was achieved by key cider and RTD brands with Hunter’s and Savanna being the standout performers across key markets on the continent. Spirits revenue growth was achieved mainly from Best Gin and Whisky, Viceroy and Hunter’s Choice. The relocation of activities to the new production facility in the Tatu City special economic zone in Kenya has commenced, with stock being warehoused in the new facility, and excise licences having been obtained.
The International business’ gross revenue grew by 14.7% alongside volume growth of 6.0%, driven by the branded Scotch whisky portfolio and sales of bulk spirits. Premium spirits continue to perform strongly across key markets. Scottish Leader in Taiwan continues to deliver robust performance as the recovery of the on-trade channel progresses. Black Bottle is also growing at a stellar pace driven by Japan and South Korea. Global Travel Retail is performing strongly, remaining on a path of recovery as global travel continues to recover.
