{"id":846014,"date":"2025-12-10T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=846014"},"modified":"2025-12-10T13:49:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T11:49:42","slug":"iconic-south-africa-company-sold-for-r55-million-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/846014\/iconic-south-africa-company-sold-for-r55-million-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"Iconic South African company sold for R55 million loss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Libstar has sold Denny Mushrooms at a loss of up to R55 million, with the company also looking to sell a separate business.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Libstar stated that it disposed of its mushroom operations on December 1, 2025, marking a decisive step in its focus on priority categories with sustainable growth potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sale of the business, as a going concern, also includes the properties situated in Gauteng (Deodar) and KwaZulu-Natal (Shongweni). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the disposal does not include the property situated in the Western Cape (Phesantekraal), which remains subject to closure. The Phesantekraal will be divested by the group in due course. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Denny brand has been licensed to the purchaser for exclusive use in the fresh mushroom category, and will continue to produce and market value-added Denny-branded products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Libstar expects to report a loss on sale before tax on its fresh mushroom operations in the annual financial results for 2025 of between R45 million and R55 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The loss on sale will be included in Libstar\u2019s earnings per share, but excluded from its headline earnings per share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denny Mushrooms has faced extreme challenges in recent years, which include its Shongweni plant in KZN closing due to a fire. The purchaser of the business has not been named. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the sale of Denny Mushrooms, the group noted that it is looking to exit non-food categories and focus exclusively on food manufacturing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group is thus evaluating the non-bidding expressions of interest with respect to the potential acquisition of its remaining Household and Personal Care business, Contactim. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trading update <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
The fire at Libstar’s facility in KZN<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The group also provided a pre-close trading update for the 47 weeks ended November 21, 2025, with the sale of Denny Mushrooms excluded from both the current and prior periods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retail sales value growth for Libstar\u2019s Total Defined Market (excluding staples) continued to decelerate in Q3. Wholesale channel sales growth also exceeded growth in the Retail channel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConsumers, therefore, continue to face financial pressure, notwithstanding moderating inflation and interest rates,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAgainst this background, Libstar\u2019s portfolio delivered growth ahead of its Total Defined Market, thereby sustaining the resilient trading momentum of H1.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Libstar\u2019s year-to-date revenue increased by 6.7%, with group volumes rising by 3.1%, with a price\/mix contribution of 3.6%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As previously communicated, the group said that extraordinary events increased sales volumes, with the year-to-date effects including <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • \u00a0A 9.0% increase in group volumes as a result of the on-sale of unprocessed raw milk to Industrial channel customers in the Dairy sub-category, which facilitated the balancing of raw material and finished goods inventory levels, offset by\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • A 1.2% decrease in group volumes as a result of the closure of the Chamonix Springwater business in the prior year; and\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • A 1.5% decrease in group volumes as a result of lower Industrial channel bulk vinegar sales due to Q1 2025 capacity constraints.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The group\u2019s Ambient Products category revenue increased by 5.6%,, while the Perishable Products category revenue increased by 8.1%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The official financial results for 2025 are expected on 17 March 2026. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Denny Mushrooms has been sold by Libstar in a deal that could reach a loss on sale before tax of up to R55 million. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":846017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[24360,24361],"class_list":["post-846014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-denny-mushrooms","tag-libstar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846014"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":846034,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846014\/revisions\/846034"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/846017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}