Distell has boosted its trading income by 31%, to R541m for the year to 30 June 2003, mainly through sales revenue that topped R5.2 billion.
An upbeat Distell chairman, David Nurek, attributed the higher trading figures to sales revenue and a favourable mix, together with improved production efficiencies. An improvement of 39.5% in net profit realised R329.8m.
The strengthening of the Rand, however, had a negative impact on the bottom line, with R66.8m losses in the current year compared with a R68.2m gain last year.
Distell declared a final dividend of 35c a share, resulting a total dividend for the year of 75c compared with 70c in 2002. This represented a dividend cover of 1.9 times by headline earnings.
Nurek said most major brands performed well, with spirits growing by 4%, while wines, boosted by strong performances of more profitable premium brands and sparkling wines, grew by 3.8%. Flavoured alcoholic beverages, however, continued to experience increased competition.
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By GlobalDataInternational sales volumes, excluding Africa, increased by about 18%. The stronger rand impacted unfavourably on international sales revenues, which grew by only 14.7%. Sales revenue from African countries increased by over 5%.
