By Conrad Mwanawashe
Before the profit figures come 200 contract farmers, a growing chain of rural farm shops and a staff share trust. Innscor Africa’s results to June 2026 are their story too.
It starts on the farm
For the farmers who grow for Innscor, the year to June 2026 was one of scale. Through its Paperhole Investments and Agrowth programmes, the group put about US$16.5 million behind 200 commercial and small-scale farmers for the summer season. Across winter 2025 and summer 2025/26 they planted roughly 9,250 hectares of wheat, maize and soya beans and harvested about 62,000 tonnes of grain and oilseed. Another 4,500 hectares of wheat went into the ground this winter, with around 31,000 tonnes expected.
Farmers outside those contracts leaned more on the Profarmer shop down the road. Profeeds’ retail arm sold 37% more fertiliser, 38% more livestock and 31% more seed than a year earlier. The group says the wider network now gives small and medium-scale farmers better access to feed, fertiliser, seed and veterinary products. Sister company Nutrimaster sold 33% more fertiliser as good rains brought tobacco and row-crop growers back to buy.
Not every farmer had an easy year. Associated Meat Packers grew beef volumes even though Foot and Mouth Disease and January Disease made cattle hard to source. Prodairy grew milk sales 5% while struggling to secure enough raw milk.
On the kitchen table
Households bought 27% more Baker’s Inn bread, much of it from new automated lines in Harare. Pasta volumes grew 55% and snacks 50%, and the biscuit plant ended the year running flat out on demand for Gloria Munchies. The Texas Meats chain reached 45 outlets.
One decline is a quiet piece of good news. Maize meal sales fell 45% because the good harvest meant families had their own grain to mill, a return to normal after the drought year.
In the workforce
Staff share in the result directly. The Innscor Africa Employee Share Trust will receive US$1.25 million in dividends for the year, up from US$830,000, money that funds payouts and loan schemes for qualifying employees. Chairman Addington Chinake wrote: “I wish to record my sincere appreciation to the Executive Directors, Management and Staff for their considerable efforts during the financial year under review.”
The numbers that follow
All of this added up. Revenue rose 14.1% to US$1.239 billion and profit for the year doubled to US$102.1 million. Shareholders get a total dividend of 4.50 US cents, up 52.5%. In the Chairman’s words, “The Group delivered an outstanding, and exceptionally pleasing, performance for the 2026 financial year.”
Building for next season
Innscor plans about US$139 million of capital spending in FY2027. It will fund a new automated bakery line and 2 MWp solar plant in Bulawayo, more flour-milling capacity in Harare, a four-year upgrade at Colcom, new rearing sites and hatchery capacity at Irvine’s, solar power at Prodairy and more brewing capacity for Nyathi sorghum beer.
“The group has reached an important stage in its development, with the benefits of prior investment increasingly evident through significantly greater scale, and improved profit generation,” Chinake said.
What could test it
The biggest test is the weather. Innscor built up raw-material stocks ahead of a forecast El Niño drought, which raised borrowing. New rules require processors to buy more grain locally, so a dry season puts its contract farmers at the centre of supply.
The farmers, workers and families who carried this year will decide whether the next one matches it.