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Financial reporting season is upon us. Here is a snapshot of how some food and beverage businesses have performed in 4Q24 and FY24:

As reported earlier this week, Bubs recorded “exceptional growth” in the US as it also sees improvement in its performance in China. It is the leading goats milk infant formula in Australia.

Top Shelf International said its financial year was a tremendous result, with underlying EBITDA improving 51 per cent or around $10 million dollars. Its controllable costs were reduced by 30 per cent to just under $8 million.

Pure Foods Tasmania is still in the weeds as it pulls all levers to reduce costs. Its Q4 loss of $534,000 was a “substantial improvement” on Q3, which was a loss of $(1.2 million).

Abalone company Rare Foods Australia had a six per cent increase on FY23 in processing facility throughput to over 120 tonnes. Retail sales in Q4 were 18 per cent higher than the same period in FY23, but order deferral and operational timing saw a negative cash flow of $(1.3 million) for the quarter.

Yowie Group – after a takeover in May and new executive team – recorded some tidy net revenue and sales increases due to its licensing deals with various sporting bodies here and in the US.

The Original Juice Co – also owner of the Juice Lab brand – saw a 17 per cent increase in gross revenue in Q4 compared to the prior corresponding period (pcp) to $17 million, saying the availability of fruit improved significantly due to navel season kicking off in May.

Forbidden Foods – owner of the brands Forbidden, Funch, and Sensory Mill – reported sales of almost $658,000, up 16 per cent pcp, and 62 per cent on the last quarter due to improvements in ecommerce and expanded manufacturing capabilities.

While Noumi expects to post a net loss after tax for FY24, Q4 provided some healthy upticks on consolidated revenue across its business units on pcp.

The egg producer hit hard by an avian influenza outbreak in May June – Farm Pride Foods – recorded more than $9 million in revenue in both April and May, prior to the outbreak – the highest monthly revenue since 2016. Its revenue for FY24 still managed to be 17 per cent, or $14 million dollars, up on FY23.

 

Packaging News

Sicut Enterprises and Close the Loop have received $5m and $2.4m in government grants respectively, to develop projects that will see 12,000 tonnes of hard-to-recycle plastics recycled into materials for local manufacturing.

Rosanne Jessop, MD of Pilz ANZ, is the new vice-chair of APPMA. With a career spanning 25-plus years in manufacturing, automation, and digitalisation, she brings a wealth of expertise to the role.

In a collaborative effort, Kimberly-Clark Australia and Woolworths have successfully completed a packaging trial aimed at eliminating the use of secondary plastic packaging for Viva paper towels. The initiative, now set to become standard practice, is projected to save 15 tonnes of plastic annually.