RFG Holdings Limited (RFG) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and a warm welcome from a chilly Groot Drakenstein. I've got Tiaan Schoombie, our CFO, who also is joining us on the call. So just to start off and to take you through the presentation outline. So what we'll cover today, I will do a short review of the period. Then Tiaan will take over, and take us through the financial review, after which I will do a trading review covering the regional and the international segment, whereafter I'll talk a bit about strategy and our outlook, and then we will field some questions. So just to start off and with regards to the review of the period, so if we look at our Regional segment, specifically volume recovery, which drove our regional revenue growth. Consumer spending remains constrained, but we've seen some volume growth of 9.9%. If you compare that to H1 of 2024, we saw a volume decline of 5.5% and our volume gains, very pleasing were mainly driven by our focus on our product innovation. Our International segment were impacted by lower global demand, where we saw an oversupply of deciduous fruit products owing to softer global demand and changing market dynamics. I'll cover some of that, obviously, when I do the trade review as well in more detail. We've seen export volumes declining by 11.7% due to delays in securing alternative customers for canned deciduous fruit products specifically. And in the Eswatini part of our business, we saw a shortage of canned pineapples due to a drought that we experienced in the prior year. Our group profitability declined due to the International segment, but our regional operating profit remained stable at a 9.8% operating margin, although down by 20 basis points. We had a challenging International segment that contributed to the group's operating profit margin declining by 170 basis points to get to an 8.5% operating profit margin. With regards to capital management, a couple of comments there. We saw a further reduction in debt levels and improved debt ratios, obviously very pleasing for us. And we've decided to declare a first interim dividend, which demonstrates our Board's confidence in the group's cash-generating ability. Just then to have a look at our medium-term targets, specifically the metrics that we focus on being revenue growth, operating profit margin and the return on equity, owing to the weaker performance of our International segment, the group did not achieve its targeted performance for the period, although we came very close in the Regional segment, we'll also make some further comments in my presentation. So if you just look at the medium target for revenue growth, obviously, what we've set ourselves is GDP growth plus CPI plus 2%, which adds up to the 7.1%. We managed to achieve 3.5% and in the prior period, 3.2%. Although as I made mention, we exceeded that target with regards to revenue growth in the Regional segment. From an operating profit margin perspective, we got our medium-term target of 10%. We managed to achieve 8.5% against the prior year of 10.2%, came very close in the Regional segment being 9.8%, although the International segment only managed to get to a breakeven. With regards to return on equity, our target there is to beat our WACC by 2%, which adds up to 15.7%. We managed to achieve 14.8% against the prior period of 15.7%. Thank you, Tiaan, who will cover the financial part before I move over to the trade reviews.

Good morning, everybody. The Regional segment accounted for 87% of group revenue for the months until end March 2025. Group revenue over that period grew by 3.5% to just more than ZAR 4 billion. The main driver was regional revenue, which grew by 7.6% to ZAR 3.5 billion. That was the result of strong volume recovery in both the subsegments, Fresh and Long Life, but in particular, in Long Life. The regional 87%, like I indicated, which is more than the historic average. International revenue, on the other hand declined by 17.2% to ZAR 500 million due to lower volume shipped in the period. There was margin on our gross profit -- pressure on our gross profit margin with the gross profit at just short of ZAR 1 billion being in line with that of the prior year. The benefit of an improved regional gross profit margin was unfortunately diluted by the impact of a lower international gross profit margin. The regional profit margin, that's operating profit margin remained resilient during the period, while the international net operating profit margin reduced the group operating profit margin. The regional operating profit increased by 4.9% to ZAR 343 million with the margin 20 basis points lower at 9.8%. International operating profit declined by ZAR 73 million and was ZAR 700,000 million -- ZAR 700,000, apologies for the period, with the margin declining from 11.5% to 0.1% for the period. This was due to lower revenue and obviously also pressure on the gross profit margin. The group operating profit was 13.9% lower at ZAR 343 million and the operating profit margin 170 basis points lower at 8.5%. The earnings was impacted by the weaker international performance. EBITDA was 8.8% lower than the prior period and the margin also 170 basis points lower than the prior period. Headline earnings declined by 11.9% to ZAR 231 million for the period. And accordingly, the headline earnings per share also declined by 11.9% to ZAR 0.887. The diluted headline earnings per share was 12.3% lower at ZAR 0.875. Despite the pressure on operating profit, cash was managed efficiently during the period with net working capital ZAR 52 million than the corresponding period. Inventory levels were down by ZAR 25 million, while accounts receivable increased by ZAR 153 million. It was offset by ZAR 180 million increase in accounts payable, which obviously contributed to the lower net working capital. Cash generated from operations increased, therefore, by ZAR 248 million in the period and capital expenditure amounted to ZAR 168 million, which was lower than the ZAR 200 million spent in the corresponding period. The improved debt dilution was a result of repayment of long-term loans to the value of ZAR 106 million. Debt levels reduced by 29.8% or ZAR 349 million to ZAR 821 million at the end of March 2025. The net debt-to-equity ratio improved from 33.3% in the prior period to 22%, and the net debt-to-EBITDA ratio improved from 2.1x to 1.6x. The Board declared the first interim dividend since the listing of this company on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the policy was amended to pay going forward to pay interim and final dividends. The first interim dividend amounts to ZAR 0.296 per share, and that is based on a cover of 3x headline earnings per share. The intention is that the final dividend will then be still equal to 2x headline earnings per share cover, which will be calculated on the full year results. The group revenue grew by a compound annual growth rate of 9.2% over the past 5 interim reporting periods. Revenue driver for the current period was volume, which grew by 6.3%, negative mix contribution of 1%, price deflation of 1.4% and also currency making a negative 0.4% contribution. The breakdown of revenue growth over the last 3 reporting periods. Firstly, what stands out is the first half of 2024, there was negative volume growth of 6.1%. That has turned around to the current 6.3% volume growth. In terms of selling price inflation, there was 6.9% inflation in the H1 of 2024. That has gone to deflation of 3.5% in the second half of 2024, but that's also starting to turn where we see 1.4% price -- selling price deflation in the first half of the current year. That all added up to the 3.5% group revenue growth for the current period. In terms of an analysis of international revenue, importantly, is the impact of foreign exchange rates on that. As we can see in the top right-hand corner, the impact on revenue, international revenue for the 6 months period, where it was ZAR 153 million in the second half of 2023, that has started to decline from there on. In the current year, it was a negative ZAR 16 million due to a stronger rand exchange rate. The average exchange rates reflect that trend at the bottom right of the slide. And in terms of the mix of currencies, no significant change, except for euro, where we've gone from 22% in the prior period to current 15% and increase in U.S. dollar [ 59% ] before to current 66%. Operating profit compound annual growth rate of 12.3%. That compares to the 9.2% on group revenue. In terms of working capital, net working capital revenue at the end of first half of 2025 was 52.4%. It's showing improvement from the period. And in terms of working capital days, 5 days lower this time around and the big driver of that is the inventory where the days has reduced receivable days for the current reporting period, I think, to which they've grown actually offset one another. The accounts receivable and accounts payable days were impacted by the timing of our month end, which was on the 30th of March, which helped to improve the situation. Free cash flow generated for the period on the back of the good net working capital situation increased to ZAR 343 million for the period compared to ZAR 95 million for the first half of 2024. Income tax payments significantly more at ZAR 136 million in the current period, and maintenance capital [Technical Difficulty]. So that all contributed to free cash flow of ZAR 61 million for the current period versus an outflow of ZAR 199 million in the prior period. Utilization of cash in the business, the biggest outflow was for dividends that were paid in January, ZAR 291 million, expansion CapEx, ZAR 44 million. Treasury shares that were purchased on market in terms of share plan or long-term incentive in the group, then settlements for shares that vested in December, the business had to purchase on market shares, the value of ZAR 70 million for that, the net repayment of loans. These payments all contributed to a working capital requirement of ZAR 502 million, which was funded by way of an increase in bank overdrafts. The capital structure of the group continues to improve as can be seen from the graph on the screen. So the decline in debt from H1 to H2 is illustrated there, obviously, due to seasonality. This situation is always better at year-end due to lower working capital in the business. The breakdown of the total debt, as we've seen over previous reported periods, long-term debt is declining, and we use bank overdrafts to fund the net working capital requirement during the first half, beginning of the second half of the year, starting with net bank overdraft of ZAR 581 million at the end of the current period compared to ZAR 740 million at the end of the prior period. The bank loan repayment profile remains the same with ZAR 93 million of long-term loans due for repayments in the second half of the current year, which will result in ZAR 62 million bank loans outstanding at the end of the current financial year. Thank you, Pieter.

Thank you very much, Tiaan. I will then cover the trading review. To start with regards to segmental revenue. Tiaan, can you just move on to the next slide, please? If you look at segmental revenue, a very important slide for us from a strategic perspective, where we look at the revenue contribution by segment. You would have seen the International division being 16% and being diluted to 13%, which is a stated intent of us from a strategic perspective to grow our Regional business faster than the International business. We're not saying we want to sell less into the international markets, but we want to drive specifically revenue in the Regional segment to focus on taking out some of the cyclicality that we've seen within this division. Just if you look at the -- specifically from a regional perspective, just a summary there of our market offering where we have got our own brands and also private label ranges for all major domestic retailers. Then just going a bit into the detail with regards to private label, as mentioned previously, part of our strategy is that we will have a dual strategy towards growing our branded portfolio and manufacturing private label ranges for major retailers. You would have seen an increase in branded products due to production innovation drive, mainly in the fruit juice and spices and seasoning categories. Just going into a bit of detail with regards to regional. You would have seen a very pleasing 7.6% increase in revenue if compared to the prior period, where we've seen in Long Life Foods, revenue up 7.2%. And if you look at Fresh Foods, up 8.3%, beating our targets that we've set ourselves. So I think that was really a good performance. And operating profit increasing by 4.9%, getting to an operating profit margin of 9.8%, just shy of the 10% goal that we've set ourselves. Interesting to note, if you look at the revenue and operating profit over the prior period, we've seen a CAGR of 9.5% with regards to revenue and operating profit increasing by 12.2%, which was a pleasing -- is a pleasing performance. Just a couple of comments with regards to the increase in revenue. Very pleasing to see the volume change of 9.5% -- 9.9%, where we saw some mix of minus 1.7% and the price deflation of 0.6%. What can clearly be seen there is that we managed to get revenue growth with a drive in volumes mainly and where we had invested in price to support our volume growth, but that was achieved also in the backdrop of good management of costs and also operational leverage due to the volume change. Just a couple of comments on specific categories, in our fruit juices category, one of our stated strategic intent is to grow -- continue to grow our fruit juices. So we've seen some strong double-digit revenue growth. Our volume growth was supported our margins due to the operational leverage that we achieved. We saw some market share gains in this competitive category, and our growth was mainly driven by the launch of our fruit nectar juice range in 2024. And you would also see now in store, we've launched a limited edition winter juice range to support our brand and also our revenue. If we then look at canned meat, brand equity as Bull Brand continued to gain brand share. Our volumes were impacted by high input cost recovery and consumer pushback on price increases. We saw some high levels of promotion in the canned protein meals category. We saw some investment in price that we had to make, which negatively affected profitability. But on the positive side, we've invested in new equipment, which supported some efficiency gains, and there is some more equipment that we're busy installing, we will start to install next week to continue our drive to support efficiency gains with regards to that part of our business. If you look at Canned fruit and vegetables, we saw some market share gains in Canned fruit, but we do continue to see that the climate patterns causes increased volatility, which increases cost and it disrupts supply. Looking at herbs and spices, also an excellent performance, which -- where our growth was supported by new product launches, including our spice shaker range that we launched in 2024 and a new product development with regards to salad dressing mix range and also an extension of our seasoning range. Pies and pastries continue to see some good volume growth supported by margins. We still continue to also see that the pie offering is good value in these difficult economic times. We've also seen some ongoing newness in Magpie, Mama's and Big Jack brands and today continue to demand a commanding market share position. We also saw some increased efficiencies with investments in new technology. Our ready meal business is really a fantastic business for us and the continued resilience of high-income consumers supported that specific category. Our growth was also driven by high levels of new product innovation and upgrades for Woolies, where we've got an excellent partnership. And we also continue to invest in capital and that benefited efficiencies and also quality improvements. With regards to the Rest of Africa, we did some SKU rationalization, which supported the efficiency gains and diligent price volume and margin management supported an improved profitability. These are just some pictures of some new product innovation with regards to the -- specifically the winter juice range that you see on your screen, also launch of Rhodes Quality Power Smoothies. In the snacking category, then you see the launch of the Hinds Spices selling dressing mix range, extension of our Hinds Spices seasoning range as well as an extension of our Bull Brand mince range. Some product innovation with regards to pies, extension of our Mama's Pies range into a new 4-pack and also some refreshment on the packaging design for our Big Jack Pies. Some private label new product development. You can see some specific new development with regards to jams in Woolies and also some peach slices, halves and fruit cocktail in Pick n Pay. Some further development in our Woolies products, where you see some cheeses and also some yogurts. Then just a couple of comments on market share. I think specifically pleasing to see our fruit juice market share was boosted by the launch of our fruit nectar juice range. So if we look at the positionings that we still got, #1 in jam, #1 in Canned fruit, #2 in Canned veg, #1 in Canned meats and meals and #2 in Long Life fruit juices where we managed to increase our share just over 30%. If we look at our -- specifically with regards to brand shares, Bull Brand entrenched its #1 position with some share gains that we've seen, #2 position in jam, canned fruit and vegetables and commanding #1 position in canned tomato and also, as I mentioned, in corned meat with our Bull Brand being a solid #1. Also, our Rhodes fruit juice gains shares in the competitive category with 100%, where our position is #2, infant meals #2, spices, herbs and pepper, getting north of 10%, being the #2, and then in the retail frozen pies and in retail frozen pastries, we also got a fantastic market position of #1. If I go then to the International division, just to look at our market offering. So we are a long-term supplier to global retail and premium branded customers. And there, you will just see a breakdown of our international revenue by region. I'm sure there will also be a couple of comments with regards to the U.S.A. market, where we've seen and also put in our commentary an increase prior year period of 16% and increased to 24% for H1. Just a bit more detail with regards to international performance. Tiaan made mention of the revenue of just over ZAR 500 million, a decline of 17.2% against the prior period. Also a decline in operating profit of ZAR 72 million prior year, making an operating margin of 11.5% and only managed to achieve a breakeven result for the period under review. If you look at revenue in the past number of years, a CAGR of 7%, and you would have seen operating profits being similar in H1 of '23 and '24, but unfortunately, a breakeven in H1 2025. Just a couple of comments with regards to the specific 2 factories that we manufacture and sell our products. So in the deciduous fruit product category, we've seen extremely difficult market conditions due to high stock levels in the international markets. Several canned deciduous fruit contracts were not honored by our customers, specifically in the Far East, and we had to redirect those products to alternative markets at lower prices, which then negatively impacted on our profitability. Resultant shipping delays as new customers secured -- were secured, and we also see some lower pricing on fruit purees. And Tiaan also made comment of the rand strength against the prior year. If you look at our pineapple category, we saw some lower pineapple volumes due to the drought conditions in 2024, which -- where we saw some lower quality fruit and yields, which resulted in canned pineapple shortages, where we've seen poor size distribution with less large-sized fruit. Recovery in food quality is taking longer than expected in certain growing areas due to the drought conditions in the prior year. We have received adequate rainfall in the last 5 months. If we also look at the international markets with regards to pineapples, we've seen a vast decline also in other producing countries, mainly in Thailand. So if I just go to our strategic focus areas and make a couple of comments on our strategy and outlook, looking at our progress against strategic priorities outlined for our 2025 financial year. So we've got a couple of strategic focus areas. We'll continue to deliver against medium-term targets that we've set ourselves, although not achieved in H1, we still are comfortable that those targets are reachable for us in the short to medium term. With regards to focus on fruit juice, dry foods, pies and ready meals, those are specifically our categories that we foresee to continue to get some volume, revenue and revenue growth and increase market shares. We will continue to drive innovation through new product development as we've seen this as a massive driver for growth. We've done exceptionally well where we've seen in the Regional segment more than 10% in the last -- in the first half of this financial year, we achieved from new product development. We will increase our innovation in our protein meals category. You've seen the latest release of another product in the mince range and then we will evaluate new product categories, which we're currently working on. You've also seen our new power smoothies that we've put out in the marketplace as part of a snacking opportunity. We will continue to maximize our opportunity in our fruit cups internationally as it differentiates ourselves, and we've seen some good growth in the U.S. market. Factory efficiencies will continue to be supported by capital investment. I've made mention several times of the improvement in quality and also inevitably, when you replace equipment, you also get some capacity improvements. Our vertical integration in our Regional business is working exceptionally well, and it was well executed at our purees and our concentrate plants and support our juice business as well as our baby food and jam categories. We will continue to identify potential bolt-on acquisitions. We have evaluated some in H1, although we didn't find any suitable acquisition targets that was of a nature that was of interest. Just a couple of comments on the U.S.A. trade tariffs. As we all know, it's an important day-to-day where our President has got a meeting later this afternoon with the President of the United States. Currently, we export to the U.S.A. accounts for in the region of 24% of our international revenue in H1, which adds up, if you make the calc to about ZAR 125 million. We foresee that for the full financial year, we will be in the region of ZAR 400 million of our revenue will move towards the United States. Inventory not sold in the Far East was directed to meet the U.S. demand. Unfortunately, the higher trade tariffs pose a significant risk to the profitability. As I made mention, about ZAR 400 million revenue we foresee for the financial -- this financial year to be sold into the U.S. While it's a bit early for us to speculate on the potential impact, our commercial teams are currently engaging with our U.S. customers on the post-tariff trading terms. We continue, obviously, to ship as quickly as possible our products into those markets. We will, as I made mention, continue to try our best to ship as quickly as we can. Then obviously, should products become uncompetitive due to higher tariffs, the U.S. bound inventory will need to be redirected to other markets. Just a couple of comments on the outlook. I think the global uncertainty and local instability impacts our South Africa's macroeconomic outlook and slowing the country's recovery, declining confidence amid global and local uncertainty, and we continue to see pressure on consumer spending for longer. Just some specific comments on the Regional segment. We expect our trading momentum to continue in H2. We will focus on brand share growth, which will be driven by product innovation. We're looking to expand further into new product categories, and we will manage our sales volume, gross profit margin, other operating costs to achieve our operating profit margin target of 10%. On the International segment, we foresee that there will be pressure on volumes and prices due to slower global demand for specifically deciduous fruit products. So shipments of our deciduous fruit products, we would see would accelerate in H2. With regards to pineapples, we see a recovery in the pineapple crop, but we foresee that it will take a bit longer than expected and will impact our performance for the remainder of the financial year. We do see that pricing specifically on pineapple products are currently extremely high, not only on canned products, but only -- also in the industrial products. So it's unfortunate that we struggle to get those yields on the farms, but pricing is looking good, and we foresee that in the short to medium term, that pricing will continue to stay high. So we are geared to handle the threat and impact of the higher U.S.A. tariffs while proactively exploring emerging opportunities in other markets. Thank you very much. That is the presentation from Tiaan and myself, and we will gladly answer any questions. Thank you.

Pieter, the first question we have is from Murray Moore from Aylett & Co. And he asks if you could please elaborate on the changes being seen in the canned meat category? Is this due to Oceana entering the category or due to other reasons?

Yes. I think there's a couple of reasons. Thank you for the question. I think there's a couple of reasons. Obviously, Oceana did enter the category. And if there's competition, that always puts pressure on pricing with regards to volumes. But I don't think the competition is the only reason. I think there is a reason that the consumer is cash strapped. And we clearly see it when you pass a certain price point that you see that volumes do decline. As we all know, specifically from a protein perspective, we know that the fishing industry has got a massive advantage from a VAT perspective, where there's no VAT on canned fish, which makes it a lot more competitive product. And that directly also does compete against our product range. We foresee that, obviously, we've got a good market share with regards to our Bull Brand product. We've extended into other -- also into the meals range with regards to that. But I think with the efficiency gains that we will experience, we will be extremely cost effective. We also know our competitors' factory is based in the Western Cape. Our factory is based in the Johannesburg market, which is a lot closer to the bigger markets in South Africa. So yes, it's not only from a competitive perspective, but also from a pricing perspective, where we have seen some pressure, and we had to drop prices to ensure that we get volumes moving again. It still continues to be a product that's well in demand, but there's a certain price that the consumers are prepared to pay.

Thanks, Pieter. Then a few questions on international and international performance. First is from Stuart Bradbury from Nedbank Commercial Banking. And Stuart asks whether the international customers that did not honor contracts provide reasons for them not honoring these contracts and the high international stock levels, any insights on reasons for these high levels?

Yes. Thank you, Stuart. Just 2 comments. A lot of our products, and I'm going to make a bit of a story about this to give you the insight. If you look at the -- specifically our Far East markets and specifically China, they used to use our products specifically to decorate cakes. So it was a big seller into those markets and bought mainly by the bakeries. And when COVID came, obviously, the bakeries had to close down. And that was when our decline in our sales to those markets actually started. We all know that the Eastern markets, specifically China, the product looks very different to ours. It's a much more pale product if you compare it to our rich color, that orange color and the firmness of our peaches are a lot better than those -- than the Chinese. So our product continues to be a preferred product. But if you look at China, as we all know, a very difficult place to compete from a cost perspective. So their costs are probably at a index of 60% towards our products, which makes it obviously from a competitiveness perspective, makes it very difficult to compete with them. And over time, after the COVID period, we've seen a slow decline where they've used different fruit to decorate the cakes. And so we've got limited volumes that we currently shift into those markets. So it was just a comment with regards to less demand for our specific product, mainly due to not being price competitive in the marketplace. So I think that covers that question. With regards to the comment on international stocks in the world. We've clearly seen that obviously, after the Greek crop failure 3 years ago, they are on full production again. So there is, again, currently stock in the system. We've also seen it from a puree perspective, where specifically in Chile, in the South American markets, where there was also a bit of a decline from a consumption perspective and then a product moved into the puree -- into puree. So we do see currently there's going to be in the medium to short term, we foresee pressure on volumes with regards to stock -- high stock levels. And we will have to see how the crop looks and that we probably will know in about 2 months' time, how will the crop look in Europe. We've recently heard with regards to apricots that there was a bit of frost. So which means that crops were down, but we haven't got all the insight into peaches as yet, but we will know that in the next 2 months. But yes, currently, there is a pressure on stocks.

Pieter, there's a related question from Murray Moore from Aylett. Are you able to get any compensation from Far East customers for reneging on their contracts?

Yes, it's extremely difficult. I don't think anybody would like to go and litigate in any of those countries. So at the end of the day, although they might take some of their products over a period of time, but inevitably, what happens is that you shift the products to other markets.

Thanks, Pieter. Then some questions from Nick Wilson from News24 on the International business and the likelihood of tariffs being increased in the U.S.A. How concerned is RFG about potentially punitive tariffs coming out of the U.S.A.? And are you concerned about the possibility of a guava coming to an end?

Yes. I think a very good question. Obviously, we've made mention we are concerned about it, because if you look at the specific on the deciduous side, if I just break it down into the 3 categories of products that we sell into those markets, the first product is pears, where it falls under a guava, where it's currently duty-free. If we just compare it to a country like Greece, for instance, there is a 17% duty on then and even a higher duty from China. So there's a big advantage for us with regards to pears specifically. If you then look at peaches, on peaches, there's also -- we do have a duty on peaches of 17%. And obviously, we've also -- and we've got a duty on fruit cocktail of 15%. For me, at the end of the day, it's all relative towards your competitors into those markets. And you need to understand that with regards to how competitive will you be if you compare yourself relatively to the other competitors, which are the Chinese as well as the Greeks. So there's also duties that's going their way. But obviously, we'll have to see where everything ends up. From Europe, we've seen that there's a blanket duty, I think, of 20% in South Africa country, there's that blanket duty for the Rest of the World that's 10%. So let's see how that pans out. But that's one side of the coin. The other side is what happens if your product becomes too expensive in the marketplace. So if duty drives inflation, it inevitably means that volumes might drop. So yes, we are worried about the American market. We've -- I've made mention of the magnitude of it, and we'll have to see what the future holds with regards to that. But as I made mention, it's all relative towards our other competitors in the marketplace.

Pieter, then a question from Nompilo Goba at Business Day, asks, how much longer do you expect the pineapple crop recovery to take relative to your initial expectations? And what specific actions are being taken to mitigate the ongoing impact of the pineapple shortage on your operations?

Yes. Yes. We foresee that it will happen. I've spoken about medium -- short to medium term. That means 12 to 18 months. We have got 2 specific areas that we farm in Eswatini. One area has got different soil than the other area. One is Malkerns and one is in Siphofaneni, and they are of a similar size, of nature. We've seen some good improvement, specifically in the Malkerns side, which is a more clay soil, a different soil. And there, we've seen some good improvement. We foresee that from June, we will see plant crop. We've got ratoon and plant crops in that business. So we'll see plant crop, which is the bigger sized fruit where your fruit distribution is better. I made mention of that. You want to have #1 and #2 fruits, which are the bigger sizes, obviously, which gives you the tonnages and the better quality. So on the Malkerns size, on 50% of it, I foresee that, that looks a lot better and will recover earlier. On the Siphofaneni side, which is a more sandy soil, we have increased a couple of mitigating steps that we've taken. We've increased the time that we harvest the cycle time, which we took from 4 to 5 years. In Malkerns, we aren't 5 years, and we -- it was a new farm that we developed, as you would recall. We got -- initially got extremely good yields on those -- on that farm, but it's a lot more sandy, as I made mention. So I think from a drought perspective, we foresee that it's going to take a bit longer to recover. We also irrigate there. A river next door to it, to add on to your rainfall. So we're also using consultants to support us, specifically on soil health to ensure that we've got all the nutrients in it. So yes, there's a lot of actions that we're currently taking to ensure that we increase our yields. But I foresee that that's going to take a bit longer on that side than at the Malkerns side.

Thanks, Pieter. And another question from Nompilo from Business Day. What types of emerging opportunities are you currently exploring in light of global trade challenges?

Yes. I think if you look at other places in the world where we can send our products to, if I understand the question correctly, I think there will be opportunities in Europe to sell our products to and also into other countries, Far Eastern countries, excluding China, I think there will be opportunities there to move product into those countries.

Then there's a question from Peter Cromberge from Mergermarket. Will expansion into new categories be through acquisitions? What acquisitions are currently of interest?

Yes. I think we always follow a combination of -- when we look at these opportunities. I think I've previously made mention one of our competitive advantages that we've got is we operate in, I think, 14 different -- we've got 14 different facilities, and we operate in 14 to 16 different categories. So we've got a lot of experience not only in paper packaging, but in glass packaging, in fresh food packaging, in canned cans. So I think we've got a lot of expertise in different equipment. And I think there's not a lot of products in food that we will not be able to pack and that we understand, although we don't have necessarily the correct equipment for it. But I think we understand those categories fairly well -- or we understand the equipment very well, sorry. And I think there, we will continue to look at maybe in certain categories that we see potential in that we would start and do it ourselves from scratch. We all know that it's extremely difficult with regards to the Competition Commission to buy any other specific businesses nowadays because of everything that we need to adhere to. And then we had to look at certain other categories. But if it's not a sizable business, it makes it difficult for us to operate. We always like to have -- to buy businesses that's got a top line of at least ZAR 500 million for the reason of, you can put in good management and it's sizable because the time you take for small acquisitions and smaller categories is exactly the same as the bigger ones. So yes, I think there will always be -- we always look at opportunities, but we're also not scared to say that we've got the ability to drive categories from scratch and enter those. We've seen also that in categories that we are like, an example, our juice business where we've launched our Rhodes nectar range within the juice category. We also see opportunity within categories that we operate in that, there's some opportunities for us within those to drive growth.

Thanks, Pieter. A question from Talya Ginsberg from Umthombo Wealth. Do you have any plans going forward to change your export strategy? It seems you are getting squeezed both from the Far East and the Far West.

Yes. I think a comment in that regard, which I made, which is our intent is to not necessarily pack less product, but to make it a smaller part of our -- of the bigger business and drive our Regional segment faster. Obviously, we're busy with relooking at our International business from a sales perspective because we need to react and quickly and see what the result is with regards to the U.S. market. And obviously, we'll have to shift products to other markets as we all know that 85% of our revenue is exports in those -- in that part of our business. So it will be important for us to ensure that we identify other markets and move it towards them. I think we must just understand from a bigger picture perspective, we're still very small in the -- if you look at deciduous and in pineapples, we're still very small if you look at the total market that's available. So I think there will be opportunities for us to move our products into other markets. But I think the important one there also is to ensure that we keep our profitability into those markets if we move our products.

Thanks, Pieter. Then 2 questions for Tiaan, and the first is from Murray Moore. Why the decrease in dividend payout ratio from 50% back down to 33%?

Yes. So not really a decrease. We've decided that for the interim, we'll work on a 33% payout, and that's after taking into account and to align it better with the seasonality of the cash flow in the business. We all know this time of the year is when we -- our working capital and our working capital requirements peak. So -- and the intention is to -- at year-end based on the final results for the year to increase the dividend to effectively for the full year's debt. So it's just a bit of a spread of how and when we pay the dividend.

Thanks, Tiaan. A question from Simon Sylvester from Rezco. Can you give some details on the slightly higher growth in the period of other operating costs as well as any guidance on this going into the year-end?

Yes. There's a few areas, but I'll talk to 2 of those, the 2 biggest areas. And the first one is marketing and promotion, that's below the line advertisements, et cetera. So we had -- with the new product launches had to increase our spend to support those launches. And also an attempt to stimulate volume growth, we increased our spend in that area. And the second one is in terms of the cost of -- staff cost, there's a slight increase, which is once-off costs, so to speak, that once-off increase, and that's to do with settlements in terms of the share plan or the long-term incentive scheme that was in place, and that was basically a result of much improved performance in the [ 2020 ] financial year relative to what the IFRS fair value of those awards was. So that's on the marketing spend I foresee will continue. We obviously, in these difficult times got to continue with your marketing efforts to stimulate volume growth, which is important for us.

Thanks, Tiaan. Pieter, then there's a question from -- another question from Murray Moore. Are you seeing increased volumes to Checkers in your fresh business?

Yes. I think -- can you maybe just clarify the question because we don't sell specifically obviously, ready meals. We don't sell ready meals into Checkers. So can you just maybe elaborate on the detail of that question, what he specifically means by that from a fresh perspective.

Thanks, Murray, if you wouldn't mind just updating that question and posting it again. Thanks. Pieter, a question from Talya Ginsberg. Can you elaborate on what you export to China and what you use the fruit for, what they use the fruit for? I think you have covered that part of that in previous answer.

Yes. I think, as I said, as I made mention, not going into specific details in that regard. But I mean, it's been -- it's substantially lower than it used to be 10 years ago, the volumes that we currently move into China for the reasons that I've specifically made mention.

All right. Then there's a question from [ Phihlelo ] from Visio Fund Management. What are your CapEx plans for H2 and H1 of 2026? And second part of that question, how much capacity do you still have across your lines?

Tiaan, maybe you can cover the first one. I will cover the second one.

In our commentary, we mentioned that we estimate CapEx for the full year to be around ZAR 430 million. We spent ZAR 160-odd million, if I'm not mistaken, in the first half, which means there's a lot to come if we just do the math. But there's some substantial projects included in that estimate and where we buy substantial pieces of equipment, which are often imported and payment terms is always you pay like a down payment, but a big portion of the payment is shipment of the equipment. So there's a few that we've obviously got in our plans for the second half of the year. But as you can hear, it's a bit of a timing thing. So if those are delayed, it may well go into the next financial year, which will obviously reduce the ZAR 430 million for the current year, but will increase or will form next year's CapEx. In terms of next year, normally, we -- for our size business, we estimate that we should spend about ZAR 350 million on CapEx, mainly maintenance. But we've got a few big projects on the go. Like for example in the juice plant, there's one big project, and there's a number of those where we've got to replace old equipment in the fruit plant on Tulbagh. So those will run into next year. But in total, I think for next year, anything between -- in the ballpark rather of ZAR 350 million.

Yes. Thank you, Tiaan. And then just to cover the question with regards to capacities available. You would also see in our integrated report where we actually -- where we go plant-specific and comment there on capacities available. But just a quick calc. I mean, if you look at last year, H1, you saw volume decline, and you would see an increase of volumes of 9.9% for the 6 months. So the net effect of that is still single-digit volume growth that we experienced. So it will be very much in line with what we got in the integrated report. I think we've got fair capacity available in most of the categories. And as I said, inevitably, when you replace also equipment, you tend to get a bit of capacity gain. Tiaan made mention on specifically fruit products, Western Cape. Although we know that the segment is under pressure, we need to replace certain equipment and we're doing that. And -- but it will also support efficiency gains. We know that in the short to medium term, it's going to be the deciduous parts business specifically is going to be under pressure, and we know that we will have to be extremely competitive from a cost perspective there. So our investments that we've made in the prior -- previous couple of years and that we will do for the next season coming up will support us from a cost perspective to ensure that we're as cost efficient and effective as we can be as we foresee that we -- the segment will be under pressure.

Pieter, then we've got a question that's come in from Sizwe Msomi, picking up on the issue of the product that was redirected from the Far East to new customers. He asks whether the new customers absorbed the whole volume and what is the margin impact of this contract been given that RFG is on the back foot in these negotiations?

Yes. I'm going to ask Tiaan maybe to help me here.

Yes, we've managed to find out for the inventory. It's now just a matter of getting the product out on to vessels and to the customers. It is -- a lot of it goes is planned for the U.S.A., and we've received notice yesterday that there's now always the logistic delays in vessels going to the U.S. due to the increase in demand. Obviously, it's due to the 90 days grace period that we've got before the higher tariffs becomes effective. So [ we gear ] as much as possible. And the customers get the product out before that period ends. But yes, so -- and so all of it, but we've said in our commentary at lower prices, it is we -- on some of the products in China, we got very good prices. We always knew that in the Rest of the World, we won't achieve the same pricing and it comes at lower pricing and obviously, pressure on margins. That's the main reason why the international gross profit is down from prior years since that we had to sell these products to alternative markets at lower prices.

Thanks, Tiaan. Pieter, there's a question from Simon Sylvester from Rezco. He asks if you could please update on the port logistics performance? Are bottlenecks having any impact anymore?

Yes. I think in general, I think there's been an increase in efficiencies in the ports. But that's a general comment. And this morning, what we've heard, there is a lot of pressure on the system with regards to everybody, as you can think, would like to export their products as quickly as they can within this grace period of 90 days, would like to sell into the U.S. So I think there's currently -- there's going to be pressure, and we see it to get vessels that can ship your product into the U.S. market due to everybody who would like to ship their products as quickly as possible.

Thanks, Pieter and Tiaan. There aren't any further questions on the webcast.

Thank you, Graeme.