Cyberattack affects Astral Foods’ revenue, no confidential information leaked

A cyberattack on Astral Foods, South Africa’s largest poultry producer, will cost the company at least ZAR20 million, or approximately €1 million.

This ‘cybersecurity incident’ took place on March 16, 2025. As soon as the attack came to light, Astral Foods implemented disaster recovery protocols and preparedness plans.

Nevertheless, the company’s poultry division was affected by downtime in processing and deliveries to customers.

“This resulted in a loss of revenue, and together with costs to catch-up a backlog in production, have impacted the Group’s profits in this reporting period by approximately R20 million,” Astral Foods says in a trading update that was published on Monday.

As of writing, all business units are operating normally after the successful recovery of the company’s IT systems. Astral Foods confirms that no confidential information or sensitive data of customers, suppliers, or individual stakeholders was compromised.

“We would like to sincerely thank our customers, staff, and service providers for their unwavering support,” the company concludes its trading update and statement.

The document doesn’t say how the hackers managed to gain access to Astral Foods’ corporate network, or what the scope and nature of the attack was.

Astral Foods Limited was founded in 2001 and is based in Gauteng, South Africa. The company operates as an integrated poultry producer and also engages in the marketing, sale, and distribution of fresh and frozen poultry products.

In addition, Astral Foods produces and sells feed products for farmed animal species and provides laboratory analytical services to the animal feed industry. In 2024, Astral Foods had an annual revenue of a little over €1 billion.

According to the latest numbers, a total of 9,593 people are employed at Astral Foods.