Prospects

The prospects for the Group remain positive, supported by the anticipated benefits arising from the significant acquisitions and investments made over the past year.

In South Africa, trading conditions are expected to remain tough, compounded by the impacts of a rising interest rate climate, its impact on consumer demand and low economic grow. Divisional teams continue to focus on delivering real organic growth and unlocking synergies while seeking out acquisitive opportunities to complement our existing product and service offering. The full benefits of our recent acquisitions and integration benefits should be evident going forward. Further opportunities continue to be sought in consumer products, where the strategy is to expand our exposure to the distribution of FMCG products. In our products-related businesses, progress continues to be made as we implement our Africa strategy.

In the Asia Pacific region, opportunities for the on-going expansion of our wholesale model will continue to be explored, particularly to independent foodservice customers while growing the national footprint of the fresh offering. Innovative technological value-adding solutions will foster continued growth. Broader exposure to mainland China bodes well for our growth strategy in this developing foodservice market. Greater exposure to Latin America through expansion in Chile and Brazil presents exciting new opportunities. In Europe, work continues in positioning of our businesses further into the independent wholesale foodservice segment. Opportunities to add new product ranges and expand local footprints, both via organic and acquisitive growth, and streamlining of the businesses, will be pursued. Management is excited about the potential of the post-year-end acquisitions of DAC and PCL and the benefits thereof to the whole foodservice group.

The Adcock board has reported that the reorganisation and corrective actions taken are expected to stabilise the immediate state of affairs of the business. The Adcock board remains optimistic about Adcock’s longer term prospects.

Bidvest remains conscious of the need to ensure the relevance of our business models and structure in a rapidly and ever-changing global environment. In view of the strategic considerations for Bidvest and the prevailing international equity market conditions, the board has resolved to evaluate the benefits of the listing of the international foodservice operations on the London Stock Exchange.

Management will focus on improving asset management in order to increase returns in our existing businesses while extracting value from the many acquisitions that have been concluded. Our financial position remains sound and management are confident that Bidvest’s extraordinary people will deliver an improved performance for the year ending June 2015.