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Good News. Business Is Booming For SA’s Bidvest, Just Not In Africa

Good News. Business Is Booming For SA’s Bidvest, Just Not In Africa

Conditions may be tough at home, but food sales are booming in Europe for South Africa’s Bidvest Group, which claims to be the largest global food service supplier outside North America.

The group saw profits rise 8.6 percent in the year through June, Reuters reports.

Bidvest’s business interests range from catering and shipping to auto showrooms. Food sales in Europe and the U.K. account for a third of the group’s turnover, according to Reuters. Bidvest’s full-year sales rose 11.6 percent to 204.9 billion rand ($15.41 billion).

“Though South African businesses grew only about 4 percent, our international food services business grew by around 25 percent,” said David Cleasby, group financial director.

Bidvest reported an 8.6-percent rise in diluted headline earnings per share to 1,882 cents for the year ending in June. Headline EPS is the most closely watched measure of profit in South Africa, Reuters reports.

The company is changing its approach to Africa, where growth has been “difficult,” said CEO Brian Joffe. Joffe cited infrastructure problems.

Joffe founded Bidvest in 1988. The group began its international expansion 1995 when it acquired 50.1 percent of Manettas, listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, according to MoneyWeb. This business was renamed Bidvest Australia.

Now Bidvest does business on four continents and employs 100,000-plus people worldwide.

“By generally accepted modern business theory, Bidvest should not be a success,” Moneyweb reported in 2010. “It is, at its worst, an unfocused conglomerate containing over 200 diverse businesses, between which only tentative synergy exists…However, Bidvest believes it has actually created value by bundling businesses together.”

Forbes named Joffe one of the 20 most powerful people in African business in 2012.

Joffe said Bidvest will focus on getting partners on the ground and agents as it expands deeper into Africa, Reuters reports.