Revenue generated in the first half of the current fiscal year close to 8.79 billion rand (ZAR; US$533 million) is reported by Rainbow Poultry Ltd.
This represents a year-on-year increase of more than 11%, according to the company’s recently published unaudited results for the six months to December 28, 2025.
This growth helped to drive an 81% improvement in profitability (expressed as Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, Amortization and Impairment; EBITDA) to more than ZAR1.05 billion. EBITDA margin increased from 7.4% in the comparable period to 12.0% for the half-year just ended.
At close to ZAR866 million, operating profit (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes; EBIT) was more than double the figure reported at the same point in 2025.
External factors supporting these advances were the ongoing strong demand for chicken, lower costs of production, and a stronger rand against the U.S. dollar. However, the company also highlights beneficial impacts of its focus on operational efficiency, adjustments to its sales channels and product mix, and higher selling prices. Enhanced front end performance generated around ZAR614 million in the improvement to EBITDA reported, and lower feed costs a further ZAR167 million, according to Rainbow Poultry.
Chicken operations drive growth
Of Rainbow Poultry’s three business divisions, Chicken is the largest, and drove most of the growth for the half-year reported.
For the six months to December of 2025, this business generated over ZAR7.75 billion in revenue — an 11.5% year-on-year increase. EBITDA from these operations was up more than 126% from the comparable period at almost ZAR820 million, raising EBITDA margin by 5.4 percentage points to 10.6%.
Six-month chicken production was up 3.3% year-on-year at more than 200,000 metric tons (mt). Of Chicken’s total sales, retail and wholesale channels accounted for 59%, quick service restaurants (QSR) for 33%, and hospitality and restaurants (HORECA) for the remaining 8%. A three-percentage-point reduction in the share by retail from the comparable period was balanced by an increase of the same magnitude through QSR.
In terms of product mix, the prime frozen category was the largest by volume at 35%, followed by individual quick-frozen (IQF) mixed portions, and fresh, which each accounted for 22%. Compared with the first half of the previous fiscal year, prime frozen gained five percentage points, and IQF mixed lost six percentage points.
At almost ZAR3.69 billion, half-year revenue from the Animal Feed Division was reported to be 1.7% higher than 12 months previously. EBITDA for this business was up marginally at close to ZAR213 million, and the EBITDA margin was unchanged at 5.8%.
For the half-year, total sales of animal feeds amounted to almost 508,000 metric tons, a year-on-year increase of 6.8%. The proportion of internal sales was down slightly, while external and “other” sales each increased their shares by 1%.
Revenue generated by the Waste-to-Value division amounted to just under ZAR56 million, down slightly from the December 2024 figure. Despite slipping by four percentage points, EBITDA margin for this business was reported at 36.5%, as overall EBITDA for this business dipped 11% to more than ZAR20.4 million.
More on Rainbow Chicken Ltd
Rainbow Chicken is among the leading poultry meat companies in Africa, according to the WATT Poultry Top Poultry Companies database.
In 2024, Rainbow Chicken was spun off as a separate business from RCL Foods.
At the end of its first year of independent training, Rainbow Poultry reported improvements in revenue and profitability, as well as progress on its turnaround strategy.
