South African spirits wine and spirits producer Distell Group reported positive annual results for 2017. South Africa supported the growth while the rest of the continent performed generally worse.

Distell Group reported a R22.3bn ($1.72bn) rise in revenue for the year ending in June 2017. This represented a a 3.7% revenue growth year on year.

The company’s CEO, Richard Ruston, stressed the particularly positive nature of the results given the economic context. This is especially true in South Africa which was going through an economic recession during the reporting period

Distell’s operations in South Africa represented 74% of the overall company’s sales, and saw a 1.5% growth in volume in the first half of the year and a further improvement of 3.9% during the second half. This is in line with recent news about the rebound of the South African economy.

Outside of South Africa, Distell produced mixed results in consequence of the economic struggles and falls in commodity prices. This was particularly true in Angola, where Distell acquired a stake in spirits market leader Best Global Brands earlier last month. However, in countries such as Nigeria, Kenya or Zimbabwe, the company performed well.

Distell further disclosed that both the spirits and wine portfolios delivered growth , with spirits performing the stronger of the two.

Despite the growth in revenue, the company’s net profits decreased by R1.3bn ($101.5 million).

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