Zambeef surges as earnings skyrocket

African food producers Zambeef expects earnings per share to have skyrocketed in its recently wrapped up trading year as a result of improved revenues and profit margins.

Zambeef told investors on Tuesday that it expects earnings per share and headline earnings per share to be approximately 163% higher year-on-year.

The AIM-listed outfit said the increased profitability was primarily due to a 14.2% improvement in revenues across the group and an expanded gross profit margin of 34.5% - up from the 32.8% seen a year earlier - resulting in a 20.1% increase in gross profits for the year ended 30 September.

"Consistent revenue growth through expanding the retail network and driving Cold Chain Food Products and stock feed operations with like-for-like revenue growth of 12.8% in the retail network was one of the key drivers of growth," said Zambeef.

Overall, Zambeef achieved a profit after tax of ZMW 24.5m (£1.6m), a 345% improvement on the ZMW 5.5m (£361,000) recorded a year earlier.

As of 1200 GMT, Jaywing shares had climbed 8.26% to 12.45p.