Farsons today reported a marginally improved performance for the six months which ended on July 31 when compared to the same period of last year. Whilst turnover exceeded €41 million, profit for the period after tax amounted to €3.95 million.
CEO Norman Aquilina said that despite the highly competitive environment, the beverage business in particular, continued to deliver a resilient performance, responding well to market forces.
"While innovation and exports continued to contribute towards these results, targeted export growth remained a challenging objective, particularly in view of the recent turmoil in the North African region”.
The franchise food business maintained a steady performance, Farsons said, whilst the food importation arm was undergoing a number of changes aimed at improving its performance.
The board of directors is recommending an interim dividend of €1 million, similar to last year, and equivalent to €0.0333 per share. The dividend will be paid out of tax exempt profits on October 17 to those registered ordinary shareholders on October 3, 2014.