Maggie Beer serves a profit as appetite grows for signature product
A turnaround plan has finally paid off for South Australian company Maggie Beer Holdings, which today reported a profit for the first time since 2023.
Maggie Beer Holdings, named after the South Australian celebrity chef who sits on the company’s board, is profitable for the first time since the 2023 financial year.
Having reported losses on top of losses since the FY23 profit of $766,000, the company today announced a net profit after tax of $398,000.
A $6 million half year loss was recorded in February 2024, when its dairy business, Paris Creek Farms, crushed the company’s profits. The company eventually sold that business in June last year for $500,000. It was a tremendous loss in value for the dairy arm, which was bought by MBH (formerly called Longtable Group) for $34 million in 2017.
Today’s profit was the result of “significant operational and structural reforms undertaken across the business over the last 12 months”, MBH chair Mark Lindh said.
“We have taken over $2 million of costs out of the business, undertaken a process of board renewal and completed a successful, shareholder supported placement delivering $11.5 million in cashflow improvement,” he said.
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“Pleasingly some of the most iconic Maggie Beer products have continued to deliver significant improvement in its in-store sales and through a burgeoning export channel.”
The Maggie Beer Products division enjoyed a 4.6 per cent uptick in sales in the six months to December 31, which the company said was due to a “refreshed team re-focusing on key national sales channels”.
Improvements in sales came from products like cheeses (up 12.7 per cent) and stocks (up 10.7 per cent).
But it was Maggie Beer’s iconic Verjuice that was a standout for the company, with sales growing by 52.5 per cent driven by exports.
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“Increasing export sales in key markets where the Maggie Beer name has strong brand equity will continue to be a key focus for the team in the second half,” the company said.
Total revenue for the half was down 1.7 per cent to $52.8 million, and the company said it has a strong balance sheet with $15.5 million in cash and unused debt facilities.
The company’s hampers arm, Hampers and Gifts Australia, remained profitable for the half, MBH said.
Revenue for the arm was $34 million, while earnings were $3.1 million.
MBH is considering unsolicited bids for HGA by external parties, with the company saying earlier this month that the board “believes there are multiple options for shareholders to realise value in the HGA platform as a leading online hampers and gifting business”.
“This will be accelerated to focus on how to best deliver this value creation through potential alliances, mergers or a change in ownership.”
Today, the company said it would update shareholders on or prior to its full-year results announcement as to the outcome of the review of HGA.
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