Food producer Libstar, the owner of Denny Mushrooms and Lancewood cheese, said on Monday insurance proceeds from a fire that destroyed one of its mushroom facilities could help lift earnings by a quarter in its year to end-December.
However, the group is still feeling the pressure of a tough consumer environment, with overall volumes falling by 4.8% in 2023, though they did improve from a first-half fall of 7%.
Headline earnings per share are expected to rise in a range of 23.5% and 28.5% to end-December, the company said in a trading update, lifted by insurance proceeds of R120 million related to a fire at its facility in Shongweni, near Durban, in 2022. The group reported total headline earnings of about R269 million that year.