Johannesburg – Tiger Brands yesterday restored the payment of an interim dividend after putting it on hold last year due to the uncertainty created by the Covid-19 outbreak as it reported a 21% hike in earnings.
The group, with brands such as Koo, Fattis and Monis, Jungle Oats, Oros, among others, declared a dividend of 320 cents a share during the period.
The declaration of a dividend follows the company reporting a 21% increase in headline earnings per share (Heps) from continuing operations to 741 cents.
Chief executive officer Deepa Sita said last year that the board took a decision to defer the dividend payment until the year-end results, given the uncertainty at the time related to the Covid-19 lockdown measures.
“However, the board has approved and declared an interim dividend of 320c in this year’s results due to an improvement in operational performance,” said Sita.
According to Sita, the performance was supported by strong revenue growth in the first quarter while cost saving and efficiency initiatives gained traction across all segments of the portfolio.
Tiger Brands also declared a dividend of 670cents in the year to end September 2020, which included a special dividend of 133cents, as a result of the once-off proceeds received from the disposal of its value-added meat products (Vamp) business.
