Growth momentum continues: the “No. 1 consumer goods manufacturing stock in Africa” Le Comfort (02698) accelerated the expansion of the new market in the medium term. Profits increased by 46%, and the dividend rate reached 66%

The Zhitong Finance App learned that after the market on August 19, Le Comfort (02698), the “No. 1 consumer goods manufacturer in Africa”, released its first interim results report after listing.

During the reporting period, the company achieved operating income of US$333 million, up 30.7% year on year; profit for the period was 758.19 million US dollars, up 46.0% year on year; adjusted profit for the period was 78.05 million US dollars, up 53.1% year on year. Among them, the company recorded a year-on-year increase in revenue and profit of 2.7 percentage points and 6.1 percentage points higher than the previous positive profit forecast's minimum revenue and minimum profit growth rate for the period, indicating that the overall operation of Le Comfort is steady and is continuing to realize the demographic dividend and long-term growth opportunities for hygiene products in emerging markets.

(Source: Company Interim Results Announcement)

In the first half of the year, Le Comfort also strengthened the existing competitive barriers of “localized production+global supply chain+deep distribution” through continuous expansion of its product matrix, rich brand portfolio, and overseas production capacity layout in Latin America, providing support for long-term growth in performance.

1. Volume and price increases to redeem dividends, and production and marketing collaboration strengthens the operating chassis

In the first half of the year, the economy of Le Comfort's main business markets, such as Ghana and Zambia, continued to recover, driving local consumer demand for hygiene products to continue to rise. At the same time, the exchange rate of currencies in operating regions such as Ghanaian cedi, Zambian kwacha, West African franc and Central African CFA franc strengthened, leading to a sharp rise in volume and price for all categories of the company's products, and collaborative expansion between production and marketing.

On the product side, the company's revenue scale and product matrix for all categories continue to expand. Among them, baby care products recorded revenue of US$262 million, up 31.7% year on year, sales volume up 26.1% year on year, and the number of SKUs increased by 83 from the end of 2025; women's care products recorded revenue of US$56 million, up 21.6% year on year, sales increased 14.6% year on year, and the number of SKUs increased 11 by the end of 2025; home care products recorded revenue of US$15 million, up 52.5% year on year, and sales increased 49.2% year on year. The number of SKUs increased by 8 from the end of 2025, achieving an increase in sales scale of all categories .

On the production side, the company continues to implement local production capacity to meet the growing needs of the local market. In April of this year, Le Comfort's first factory in South America, the Peruvian Hygiene Factory, was officially put into operation. Together with the Chinese and American Salvadoran sanitary ware factory, which was put into operation in August last year, it provided capacity support for the company to further develop the Latin American market.

As of June 30 this year, Le Comfort has established 10 factories and 73 production lines in Africa and Latin America. Compared with the end of last year, there was a net increase of 7 production lines. It can not only effectively optimize production costs and strictly control product quality, but also flexibly adjust production strategies to meet the diverse consumer needs of different markets and levels of consumers, forming a healthy business loop of capacity improvement, category expansion, and demand matching.

2. Multi-point breakthroughs in the entire brand matrix, and the steady advancement of high-end technology and mass sinking

In terms of brand operation, Le Comfort has built a brand matrix system with high-end upgrades and mass decline, and the two lines are working simultaneously to continue to open up room for profit and scale growth.

The company's main high-end brand, Softcare, recorded revenue of US$247 million in the first half of the year, an increase of 22.4% year-on-year, and achieved steady growth in the core markets of Africa. Veesper, the leading high-end brand in the Latin American market, recorded revenue of US$12.152 million, an increase of 60.2% over the previous year. Judging from channel-side performance, the proportion of revenue contributed by supermarket channels increased from 3.6% last year to 4.5% during the same period, showing that Comfortable's mid-range and high-end brands are also gradually penetrating the high-end consumer scene in emerging markets, winning the favor of middle and high-end consumers.

In terms of popular brands, the Cuettie brand recorded revenue of US$0.61 billion in the first half of the year, an increase of 43.8% over the previous year, and contributed 1.7 percentage points to the year-on-year increase in revenue, further reaching out to the mass consumer group in the African market.

Overall, in the first half of this year, Le Comfort implemented the basic revenue market with high-end brands, broadened profit boundaries, sank the market deeper with popular brands, expanded the consumer base, and further opened up room for growth in the company's business scale with a differentiated and graded brand layout.

3. The incremental market is gaining strength, and Latin America and Africa jointly open up room for growth

The incremental market. In the first half of the year, LeComfort blossomed more in the Latin American and African export markets, which is expected to open up the ceiling of medium- to long-term growth.

In the Latin American market, the regional revenue contribution also continued to increase after local factories in El Salvador and Peru were put into operation in the last year. In the first half of the year, the company recorded revenue of 19.09 million US dollars in the Peruvian market, an increase of 57.0% year on year; other Latin American markets, including El Salvador, recorded revenue of 7.477 million US dollars, an increase of 566.4% year on year.

In terms of the African market, Le Comfort's “other” market revenue in East Africa, Central Africa, and West Africa increased by 97.5%, 44.5%, and 51.3% year-on-year respectively, mainly due to the company's export of products produced by core business countries to neighboring countries, forming a new “incremental market” in Africa. In the future, the above incremental market is expected to replicate the “trade export - localized production” development path in other countries in the past, opening up new growth space for the company's continued growth in the African market.

While steadily expanding its business, Le Comfort also emphasizes continuous returns to shareholders. During the year, the company completed the 2025 final dividend payment of 8.88 cents per share, totaling approximately US$55 million, with a dividend rate of about 45%. In the latest results announcement, the company stated that it will declare an interim dividend of 8 cents per share, totaling about 49.7 million US dollars, with a dividend rate of about 66%. During the year, Le Comfort's dividend amount exceeded 100 million US dollars.

The long-term investment value of Le Comfort was also recognized by Southbound Capital's additional positions. On March 9 of this year, the company was included in the Hong Kong Stock Connect and immediately received continuous increases in mainland capital. As of August 18, Southbound Capital had purchased 40.47 million shares of the company, accounting for 6.51% of the company's total share capital.

Looking ahead to the future market, Le Comfort relies on the existing advantages of localized production, a global supply chain, and a broader channel marketing system, and will continue to improve operational efficiency and market competitiveness. At the same time, the long-term growth trend of the hygiene products market and the continued economic recovery of major operating countries also provided long-term benefits for the company's business development.

With the gradual release of favorable internal and external factors and the continuous opening up of room for incremental market growth, Le Comfort is expected to maintain rapid growth and bring more “surprises” to the market in terms of performance exceeding expectations.