CFO Deepa Sita says Tiger Brands expects further improvement in the second half of the year.
Tiger Brands has restored the payment of an interim dividend after reporting a 21 percent increase in headline earnings in its six months ended 31 March 2021 results presentation. The group declared a dividend of 320 cents a share for the period.
CFO Deepa Sita said last year that the board took a decision to defer the dividend payment until the year-end results, given the Covid-19 related uncertainty at the time. “However, the board has approved and declared an interim dividend of 320c in this year’s results due to an improvement in operational performance,” she said.
She accredited the company’s strong performance to a strong revenue growth of 8 percent to R1,6 billion, as well as cost saving efficiency initiatives that gained traction across all the segments of Tiger Brands’ portfolio.
The company also reported an increase in cash generated from operations by 15 percent to R1.7 billion, despite its performance being interrupted as the government tightened it Covid-19 lockdown measures towards the end of 2020.
“Tiger Brands experienced a small impact during the second wave as we were proactive on how we conducted business. We put measures to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic, however, we remain concerned about the potential of a third wave in our operations,” Deepa said.
Despite these concerns, she said that the group expected an improvement in the second half of the financial year.