The Du Toit Group’s empowerment company, Crispy Group, has declared a consolidated nett profit before tax of R11 million for 2008 up to May, said Gys du Toit, Crispy’s chairperson.
“Measured in terms of the targets set for the group, we had a very good year,” he said, adding that had managed to meet the land reform targets set by government and achieved this through a focused mentorship programme. “We are proud of the five transformation managers who were involved,” said Du Toit. he Crispy Group declared a dividend of R2,6 million, of which R1,8 million was paid to the 1 365 members of Investments (Pty). hese shareholders are Du Toit workers who own 64,9% of the Crispy Group with the Du owning 32,3%, while Du employees own 2,8% through Durbel CC.
The was formed two years ago when Crispy Coolers and Farming merged. Coolers, a cold storage complex, was established in 2003. It consists of 22 cold rooms with capacity to cool 30 400 bulk bins of fruit. Crispy Coolers is valued at R30 million, and has no liabilities. It showed a nett profit of R3,49 million for 2008. C rispy Farming consists of six farms situated in the Warm Bokkeveld outside Ceres, bought in 2003. It comprises 236ha of apples, pears, peaches, nectarines and apricots. Crispy Farming produced 7 000t of fruit for the 2008 season.
Continuous upgrades prevented earlier profits, but this year saw a R7,6 million nett profit. rispy Farming is valued at R35 million and has no liabilities. “R4,7 million will be invested in new orchards with profitable cultivars in the near future,” added Du Toit. – Wouter Kriel
