In 2015 wine, spirits and cider producer Distell set itself the goal of doubling revenue and earnings by 2022, an objective that it is on the way to achieving.
“As painful as they were we believe these two write-offs were the prudent thing to do,” said Distell CEO Richard Rushton at the presentation of the company’s results.While revenue for the year increased by 9.4% R26.2-billion, operating profit fell 26% to R1.8-billion largely as a result of the impairments. The impact flowed down the income statement where profit attributable to equity holders of the company fell by 45.5%.
“Building can be an uncomfortable phase with some setbacks which we have just had to ride out,” says Rushton. “We have a long way to go yet, but we are confident our strategy in Africa – which is conservative – is the right one.”