AVI Limited
South African branded consumer products group — food, beverages, fishing, personal care, footwear and apparel. Revenue grew just 1.0%, the slowest in five years, but operating profit grew 7.8% as margins expanded across most of the business.
Revenue
R16.02bn
▲ +1.0% vs FY24
Operating profit
R3.56bn
▲ +7.8% vs FY24
Operating margin
22.2%
▲ from 20.8% in FY24
Cash returned to shareholders
R2.98bn
▲ incl. R938m special dividend
Total across four areas
27/ 40
Calculated from AVI's published numbers using fixed thresholds. Not a rating.
The score describes how the business has been run and funded, area by area. A higher or lower score is a point of comparison between companies, not a statement that one is better than another: a company that pays out most of its cash will score differently from one that keeps it.
Look at the four area scores and the reasons beside them rather than the total alone. Every threshold is public in the scoring rubric, so you can check any score yourself.
Operations
Is the business making more from what it sells?
What drives the score
Operating margin 22.2% in FY25 against 18.2% in FY21 (+4.1 points); revenue grew 4.8% a year on average.
Comment
Profit growth came from margin rather than sales: revenue growth faded to 1.0% in FY25 while operating margin reached the highest of the five years.
Liquidity
Does profit turn into cash?
What drives the score
Cash conversion was 80% of operating profit in FY25; working capital is 21.6% of revenue, up 2.5 points since FY21.
Comment
Cash conversion slipped from 94% to 80% and working capital grew faster than revenue (up 37% against 21%). R777m of new short-term borrowing helped fund FY25 dividends.
Solvency
How comfortable is the debt?
What drives the score
Net debt is 0.64× operating profit and interest cover is 15.0×. Two trend deductions apply: equity fell in FY25, and interest cover is down 24% on FY21.
Comment
Leverage is modest in absolute terms, but net debt rose 31% over the five years, equity fell in FY25 because dividends exceeded profit, and interest cover fell from 19.9× to 15.0×. AVI reports lower net debt in FY26.
Qualitative
Are the habits and disclosures consistent?
What drives the score
Four of five yes/no rules passed (2 points each). Dividends were not covered by free cash flow in 2 of the 5 years.
Comment
Dividends are consistent, the segment mix is balanced and the audit opinion is unmodified. The one miss is dividend cover: free cash flow did not cover dividends in FY21 and FY25, both years with a special dividend.
Revenue
R16,021.5m
up 21% since FY21
Operating profit
R3,561.9m
up 48% since FY21
Operating cash flow
R2,856.6m
dipped FY22-23, recovered since
Net debt (debt less cash)
R2,263.2m
highest point in 5 years
Operations
▲ Margins higherLiquidity
■ Cash conversion lowerSolvency
▼ Net debt higherAVI's FY2025 was a year where profitability did more work than growth: revenue barely moved, but disciplined pricing and cost control pushed operating margin to its highest level in at least five years. That improvement came with a quieter cost — the business now holds more inventory and debtors relative to its sales than it used to, and converts a smaller share of its profit into cash as a result.
Management chose to return a large share of that cash to shareholders anyway, including a second special dividend in five years, funded partly by new short-term debt. The result is a balance sheet that looks a little more stretched than it did a year ago — by design, not by distress. Whether that trade-off suits a given portfolio is a question of individual goals and risk appetite, which this scorecard doesn't answer.
This scorecard presents a descriptive summary of AVI Limited's published financial results for FY2021–FY2025. The business health score is a description of the business based on fixed, published thresholds; it is not a rating, and a higher or lower score does not mean one company is better than another. It does not constitute financial, investment or tax advice, a recommendation to buy, hold or sell any security, or a valuation or price target of any kind. Clearview Financial (Pty) Ltd is not a licensed financial services provider. Figures are drawn from AVI Limited's audited consolidated annual financial statements and SENS announcements; some comparative figures are derived where a precise breakdown was not separately disclosed, as noted in the underlying workpapers. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Source: AVI Limited consolidated annual financial statements, FY2021–FY2025 · avi.co.za / senspdf.jse.co.za
The full report walks through every year of AVI Limited's published results: revenue, margins, segments, cash flow, balance sheet and the share price.
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