Africa-Press – South-Africa. Premier Group has announced a strong financial performance for its 2025 financial year, as the food producer focused on margin management under tough trading conditions.
Founded in 1824, Premier is one of South Africa’s oldest companies and owns many of the country’s most well-known food brands, including Blue Ribbon, Iwisa, Manhattan, Mister Sweets, Snowflake, and Super C.
Today, Premier employs over 8,600 employees in various operations, spanning 13 bakeries, 7 wheat mills, 3 maize mills, and manufacturing plants across the region.
On Tuesday, 10 June 2025, Premier released its results for the year ended 31 March 2025, which revealed solid results.
The company explained that its 2025 financial year presented several challenges, largely because its revenue is heavily influenced by changes in global grain prices.
The food producer explained that lower global wheat prices compared with the prior year, as well as soft trading in the maize category driven by record-high, weather-induced raw maize prices, detracted from revenue growth for the year.
However, the company said meticulous margin management and a clear focus on its long-term strategy of investing in state-of-the-art facilities and its workforce enabled Premier to deliver strong results regardless.
With this strategy, Premier managed to leverage its moderate revenue growth into a meaningful improvement in operational earnings.
The group’s revenue increased by 7.0% to R19.9 billion in the period, supported by revenue growth in both its Millbake and Groceries and International divisions of 5.7% and 13.3%, respectively.
The company explained that this moderate revenue growth was expected in the light of deflationary global wheat prices, the impact of high maize prices on consumer demand and a generally subdued economic environment.
Nevertheless, Premier reported that its total comprehensive income for the year grew by 23% to R1.18 billion, while its basic earnings per share rose by 31% to 936 cents per share.
The company’s operating profit increased by 16.9% to R1.9 billion, while its operating profit margin improved by 80 basis points to 9.6% compared to the prior year.
The company also made significant inroads in reducing its debt over this period, which led to its net finance costs decreasing by 16.7% to R306 million and a lower leverage ratio of 0.7x.
Premier’s net cash outflow from investing activities increased by 68.9% to R1.2 billion, largely comprising capital expenditure of R726 million invested in several site upgrades.
In addition, the company concluded corporate acquisitions to the value of R317 million in its 2025 financial year.
This includes acquiring a 30% shareholding in Goldkeys for a purchase consideration of R314 million and a minority stake (13.3%) in ZEN Commodities.
Based on these strong results, Premier announced a final gross dividend of 271 cents per share, which will be paid out of the company’s reserves.
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