Crookes lifts revenue on sugarcane output

LISTED agricultural group Crookes Brothers increased its revenue from R298m to R362m in the year ended March due to better sugarcane production and higher prices for major products, it reported yesterday.

Having successfully turned around underperforming operations, its operating profit rose from R25,8m to R98,3m while headline earnings were R72,9m, compared with R25,3m in the previous year.

Crookes Brothers MD Guy Stanley Clarke said basic earnings fell from R113,2m to R82,2m this year because in the prior reporting period, capital profits were realised on the sale of the Komati Estate to the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform. Operating cash flow rose from R16,7m last year to R53,3m and, at the end of the financial year, the group’s aggregate of cash holdings and redeemable investments was worth R121m.

He said favourable climatic conditions in most areas assisted the recovery of sugarcane production to previous highs despite the continuing effect of the drought on the group’s KwaZulu-Natal coastal estates.

Substantial increases in yields were recorded on its larger estates in Mpumalanga and Swaziland.

“Financial results continue to be adversely affected by the high level of replanting and development being undertaken in this division,” Mr Clarke said in yesterday’s results statement. In its banana business, the company recorded improvement in product quality, but higher prices had offset lower production from a reduced area under crop as a result of the replant programme, the benefits of which will be realised in the next financial year.

There were higher grain yields due to excellent growing conditions, which more than offset the negative effect of lower prices.

The sheep operation experienced another good year, with mutton and wool prices continuing to climb, the company said.