GRAINS

Our ambition

To strategically increase Tiger Brands' carbohydrates share of plate by simplifying our portfolio and boosting cost efficiencies, making our products more affordable for everyday occasions. We are committed to empowering our teams to think outside the box and unify our Grains portfolio.

Financial performance

As a key contributor to Tiger Brands' declining performance over the last five to seven years, the Grain's business provides both some of the biggest challenges and potentially highest rewards in delivering an effective turnaround. The scale of the challenge was evident this year, with year-on-year revenue up 2% to R8,5 billion, and operating income for the year ended 55% lower at R91 million.

Maize's performance was negatively impacted this year by overall category declines driven by inflation and aggressive competitor pricing, particularly in private labels, partially offset by lower conversion costs. The sorghum-based Breakfast and Beverages business continued to deliver a muted performance, reflecting subdued demand. Jungle's operating profit was impacted by a price increase taken in H2 and aggressive promotional pricing from competitors. Pasta delivered robust performance, aided by value engineering on product and pack, while Rice was impacted by Indian export bans on parboiled white rice, which saw supply constrained and customers holding back on purchases in anticipation of the lifting of these bans.

Despite these challenging results, we have made some progress this year in stabilising the business. A priority strategic pillar this year was on restoring cost leadership by strengthening our price risk management strategies, delivering innovations in reformulation and packaging, and rationalising 20% of our SKUs. Throughout the year we have maintained a particular focus on operational excellence, identifying opportunities to optimise manufacturing and maintenance practices, improve productivity and product quality, and enhance our safety, health and environmental performance.

In line with the Group strategy on rejuvenating brands, and executing priority growth platforms, we are prioritising investment in one power brand (Jungle) and two specialist brands (Tastic and Fatti's & Moni's), each of which has strong brand equity, and where we see greatest potential for growth. To leverage the power of these brands, we are partnering with Culinary to leverage meal solutions for consumers and increase Tiger's share of every plate.

We see opportunities to enhance Jungle's relevance across consumption occasions, leveraging oats' health credentials and the strengths of Instant Oats and Oatso to improve Jungle's overall margin. In Rice, we are refocusing our brands based on consumer insights, unlocking the potential of identified profitable rising star products, and reducing costs through innovations in product and packaging specifications and SKU rationalisation. In Pasta, we have identified opportunities to enhance consumer relevance, improve cost competitiveness through changes in products, packaging and distribution, and improved visibility and route-to-market.

Across the portfolio, we are working on stimulating sustainable growth in targeted customers in the traditional retail trade, accelerating our presence in the general trade segment, and leading in the e-commerce segment.