ASTRAL FOODS LIMITED - General trading update

General trading update

ASTRAL FOODS LIMITED
“Astral Foods”
(Reg. No. 1978/003194/06)
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
Share Code: ARL
ISIN Code: ZAE000029757

GENERAL TRADING UPDATE

Astral Foods’ results for the six months ending March 2018 will
show a marked improvement on that of the comparative period
ended March 2017.  This is mainly as a result of the
following:

  -   The profits for the comparative period were still
      negatively impacted by abnormally high feed costs, and
      therefore represent a low base against which the current
      period’s results are compared.

  -   Favorable trading conditions experienced during the second
      half of the 2017 financial year, continued into the first
      half of the 2018 financial year.

  -   Unlike the past, poultry prices remained firm post the
      December 2017 holiday season.

  -   Further improvement in on-farm poultry production
      efficiencies was recorded.

It can be confirmed that no further incidents of bird flu and
related costs have been experienced during the summer months,
such as that which impacted the business in the second half of
the 2017 financial year.

Shareholders are advised that both Earnings Per Share (EPS) and
Headline Earnings Per Share (HEPS) for the six months ending
March 2018 are expected to be at least 410% up on the results
for the comparative period.

This implies that the EPS for the six months ending March 2018
is expected to be at least 1800 cents per share (2017: 353
cents per share) and the HEPS to be at least 1816 cents per
share (2017: 356 cents per share).

A trading statement reflecting a definitive range on the
expected earnings will be published at such time as reasonable
certainty exists.

It is expected that the results for the six months ending 31
March 2018 will be published on SENS on 14 May 2018.

The information on which this general trading update is based
has not been reviewed and reported on by Astral Foods’
auditors.


Pretoria
5 March 2018

Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking, a division of Nedbank
Limited
Sponsor

Date: 05/03/2018 10:00:00 Produced by the JSE SENS Department. The SENS service is an information dissemination service administered by the JSE Limited ('JSE'). 
The JSE does not, whether expressly, tacitly or implicitly, represent, warrant or in any way guarantee the truth, accuracy or completeness of
 the information published on SENS. The JSE, their officers, employees and agents accept no liability for (or in respect of) any direct, 
indirect, incidental or consequential loss or damage of any kind or nature, howsoever arising, from the use of SENS or the use of, or reliance on,
 information disseminated through SENS.