JSE-listed food services multinational Bidcorp increased its revenue for the financial year ended June 30 by 2.8% year-on-year to R242.2-billion, while its trading profit increased by 6.5% to R13.8-billion.

Trading margins increased by 20 basis points to 5.7%, with the 30 basis points of gross margin improvement more than offsetting the ten basis points increase in the company's costs.

The company's cost of doing business increased to 19.1%, up from 19% in the preceding financial year.

Gross margins improved by 30 basis points to 24.8%. Gross profit increased by 6.2% to R61.3-billion.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) increased by 8.2% to a record R15.8-billion, up from R14.6-billion in the prior financial year, and the Ebitda margin improved to 6.5% from 6.2% in the 2025 financial year.

Cash from operations after working capital for the financial year under review increased by 17.7% to R18.6-billion.

Free cash flow, excluding dividends but after operating cash flows, working capital and capital investments, and lease payments, was R7-billion, up from R1.6-billion in the prior financial year.

This result enabled a portion of cash to be used to reduce some of the dilution created by the company's employee share schemes, the company said.

The total dividend per share for the year was R12.40, up 6.9% from R11.60 in the prior financial year.

Further, headline earnings per share increased by 5.4% to R27.01 a share.

Bidcorp, at year-end, had R15.7-billion in gross borrowings, down from R17.8-billion in the prior financial year. Net debt to Ebitda was 0.2-times, down from 0.4-times in the 2025 financial year, which reflects the cash generative nature of the company, it said.

In a presentation of the group's results on August 26, Bidcorp CEO Bernard Berson said the results for the year were solid and had been achieved in challenging circumstances; including that the average weighted yearly GDP growth rate of the 31 economies it operates in was between 1.2% and 1.4%.

Food inflation was also on the lower end, at 1.5% for the financial period under review. General inflation in the economies it operates was about 3% for the period, he said.

“Our consistency is driving organic growth, with only five small bolt-on acquisitions made during the financial year. Our strategic imperatives are moving up the supply chain, developing our own house brands, moving to vertical integration and selective movement into niche value-add light manufacturing and conversion processes.”

The company's businesses use local currency for their operations and are encouraged to select local suppliers and to develop food and products for local tastes. The company has about 500 000 clients and about 400 000 different products, he illustrated.

“We are a data-rich company. Each customer gets different products in different markets, which provides us with a huge amount of data. We also have lots of historical data.

“It is amazing what you can do with this much data, such as looking at potential sales, margins, efficiencies, missed opportunities and future opportunities, and baskets and comparative metrics and more,” Berson said.

Bidcorp's decentralised culture encourages this, with it seeing the best results in projects where people are able to adopt new practices and tools quickly.

This approach also makes the cost of adoption of tools and technology incrementally cheaper.

“There are several of these projects being developed around the world. When something shows potential, we roll it out to any other businesses that can use it. Once we have the data and understand what needs to be done, we are able to get speedy execution and uptake of technologies that improve operations and provide enhancements,” he said.

The group continues to evolve as technology develops. AI is providing a host of micro-solutions through different streams of the business that incrementally improve multiple areas, with the benefits adding up, he noted.

Additionally, Berson said that the company now had substantial manufacturing operations around the world that were “doing different cool stuff”, with exciting prospects for the future.

The company's annual integrated report provided an example: Bidfood Czech Republic introduced an automated salmon filleting line.

Previously, producing 11 t of salmon fillets required 24 hours and a team of eight people. The new line can process the same volume in 12 hours, effectively doubling production capacity and creating headroom for future growth.

Following successful implementations, Bidfood plans to continue rolling out selected technologies where they deliver clear operational benefits, the report said.

Further, Berson said the Australian and New Zealand businesses grew about 2% during the year, although their fundamentals were good and Bidcorp expected them to rebound during the coming year.

“These businesses have bright futures and continue to innovate in terms of our products, manufacturing, vertical integration and house-brands strategies. A lot of technology from this part of the world is adopted into our other businesses,” he noted.

Meanwhile, the company was re-engineering its business-to-business sales and services platform. The new platform will help to drive market penetration and provide search and product availability functionality, among others, and make it easier for customers to transact.

The new platform will also unify Bidcorp's sales and services tools, such as suggested upselling opportunities for specific customers and mini-planning tools, among others, he said.

The group also has several microprojects being undertaken in various areas of its businesses, with some teams developing “phenomenal solutions”.

Berson said that the group was also rolling out agentic AI tools to support certain aspects of its operations. It has trialled, developed and extensively used these tools to support its operations and help employees and customers.

“A lot is being developed with agentic AI, but it is a long path ahead,” he said.

Bidcorp remains firmly on its path of margin enhancement through efficiency gains and new customers, and is confident of delivering real growth in the year ahead, Berson said.