Comvita didn’t let the ongoing impact of covid-19 get in the way of the honey manufacturer reporting its second-best earnings.

The company said its net profit was $12.8 million in the year to June 30, up 35% from the previous year, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) were up 18% to $30.1m.

Chair Brett Hewlett said he was “delighted” to announce the second-best earnings of all time at Comvita, which included an increase of 34% in earnings per share and a 37% year-on-year increase in dividends to shareholders. 

“The result shared today gives more evidence we can deliver revenue, margin and earnings growth while investing in long-term brand and business building activity,” he said.

Chinese market

The company said full-year revenue jumped by 9% to $208.9m despite “material negative covid impacts” which saw the honey manufacturer struggle, particularly in China because of its lockdowns, and offline sales fell 46% in the March to June period.

Despite this, the company still managed to report strong market share as well as top and bottom-line growth in China and North America, which are the two biggest honey markets in the world.

“We couldn’t anticipate the level of impact we have seen with covid over the last few years, but as I hope you can see, we are generating real momentum in our business,” Hewlett said.

Operating profit was sitting at $20.1m, up a significant 65.4% from the previous period.

Performance in its core mānuka honey category was again strong with double-digit revenue and profit growth in the previous year.

Group chief executive David Banfield said it was a testament to the dedication and focus of Comvita’s team that the company was able to report strong growth in all its markets.

“We know that there is still plenty of opportunity to improve further, including digitisation of the entire business to release organisational time and capability,” he said.

Five-year plan

In early 2020, Comvita launched a $15m transformation plan shortly after Banfield took over the company’s reins. 

The new five-year plan leading to 2025 included significant cost-cutting as well as a structural overhaul. 

Hewlett said the board’s strategic review of the business from three years earlier had highlighted the inflexibility of the company’s operating model, loss of focus and “knock-on impacts to our performance when unexpected events occurred”. 

Since then, Comvita had been “relentless” in ensuring the company was both “focused and agile”, he said. 

Banfield confirmed the company was still on track to deliver its 2025 plan of a $50m Ebitda.

As part of Comvita’s five-year plan, the company said it had set out an “ambitious target” for 50% of all sales to be through e-commerce by 2025. 

Ecommerce sales represented 39% of total sales in the year ended June, which was an increase of 15% from the previous period.

The Comvita board declared a fully imputed final dividend of 3.0 cost per share (cps) resulting in full year dividends of 5.5 cps – an increase of 37% from the 2021 full year.

The company's shares were up 1.5% to $3.35 in early morning trading this morning.