SAB spends US$2.5 million on corporate social investments

There is more to the much-flaunted notion of corporate citizenship than the “triple bottom line” approach which compels companies to embrace social, economic and environmental issues. Each year, millions of dollars are funnelled into so-called public-private partnerships between a company and a community utilising the company’s resources.
Companies do not view their corporate social investment projects as purely philantrophic. Certainly not in emerging markets. One reason for these investment projects is that the poor do not make good consumers or investors, another reason is that the uneducated do not make good employees.
SAB has been involved in social investment programmes since the mid 1990s. SAB’s Enterprise Development Department invested US$2.5 million in 2001..

Focus on new plants: SAB Ibhayi Brewery State-of-the-art line equipment for Port Elizabeth

SAB - these three letters are familiar not only to trade insiders. Famous worldwide in the meantime: SAB stands for South African Breweries. SAB has done quite a lot to achieve worldwide popularity. The news that 98 percent of South Africa’s beer consumption is attributed to SAB products was not enough.

Even if no other brewery group can make this claim on its home ground. Rather, it was the international strategy pursued with all consequences by the brewery, with its 56 million hl per year output the third largest in the meantime, that contributed to SAB’s high degree of familiarity worldwide. At the end of the Apartheid era, SAB expanded above all to black Africa. Yet this was not enough, in 1995/96 SAB invested heavily in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
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Taste buds on a journey

Great advertising copy: "Exotic Lemon Ice will set your feet tapping, your body grooving, and send your taste buds on a journey they’ll never forget." Spirit coolers or what we used to call alcopops in the days before Political Correctness have arrived on the African continent. As AFBs (Alcoholic Fruit Beverages) they are starting to break into the liquor market. In Botswana the product "Fusion Ice" was launched recently which combines a tangy lemon blend with a 4.5% ABV "alcohol bite." It is sold in 340ml non-
returnable bottles and priced marginally above mainstream beers. The slogan "A fusion of body and spirit" makes you wonder though. What can the admen mean? A fusion of body and spirit is .... a person... a party going on. Or what did you think?.

Guinness to be brewed in Namibia

Later this year Namibia Breweries will start brewing Guinness in Namibia in an effort to reduce the brand’s cost in South Africa.
The pricing of Guinness and its sister brand Kilkenny has been driven high by the depreciation of the South African rand against the Irish punt which has started to hamper sales.
Presently, the brand is imported from Ireland and distributed by Namibia Breweries’ South African subsidiary. Guinness UDV SA markets the brand in South Africa. The brewer has already installed equipment required to brew Guinness in Namibia. Namibia Breweries took over distribution of Guinness and Kilkenny in 1999 after Guinness ended its contract with South African Breweries..

New beverage group

Last march the new South-African beverage group Distell signed officially by making itself being registered at the Security Exchange of the stock exchange of Johannesburg. The quotation followed upon the alliance of the Distiller’s Corporation and Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery last year. According to its own statement Distell is the tenth largest beverage group world-wide. It is understandable that the alliance encountered some opposition, especially from the competitors. Bulmer SA and Seagram Africa even tried to stop it by means of a plaint at the Cape Town High Court. The plaintiffs claimed that the alliance would have to be decised by the public authorities, since it would contravene the competition law. Therefore, according to Distell’s opinion, the conditions did not change..

I got news for you

South African Breweries took to the Web in order to market an imported low-alcohol beer to South Africa’s movers and shakers between the ages of 25 and 40. In May SAB began sending out emails to selected people in the target group with the promise that the first 500 to reply to the email would receive a free case (24x340ml bottles) of the beer delivered to their offices. The rationale behind this campaign was that colleagues would be intrigued and would want to try the beer. Recipients of the email were also encouraged to forward the email to friends to give them a chance to win a case of beer themselves. During the second phase of the campaign another email with a desktop game attached would be sent out and during the final phase an email with trivia questions would be circulated..

Heart of Darkness Brewers in Malawi hope against hope

How do you organise a beer festival in Lilongwe? Easy. You cordon off the traffic, roll in the beer barrels and erect a stage for the band and soon everyone is swaying to the music. In the heart of Africa, people love to party especially if it is sponsored by Carlsberg. After more than thirty years of market dominance, Carlsberg is as Malawian as, well, Maganje.

Remember the Camel cigarette ads? The famous tag line? "I’d walk a mile ..." Not in Malawi and not for Camel Filter. Here people grow tobacco themselves. After all, tobacco represents Malawi‘s most important export. If people walk anywhere for pleasure, it’s for a "green one", a bottle of Carlsberg beer. However, be warned: "far" is a relative term in Africa. You have to travel into Malawi to listen to Maganje.
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SAB issues $330m in senior notes

SAB’s issue of US$330m seven-year fixed rate senior notes has renewed speculation that the brewer might use the cash for expansion. However, SAB said that the proceeds of the issue would be used for general corporate purposes.

Grupo Modelo’s net sales up 6.5%

Grupo Modelo, Mexico’s major brewer, reported net sales of Ps. 7.037 bn for the first quarter of 2001, an increase of 6.5% compared with the same period last year. Total beer shipments grew 14.1%, given the strong export shipments (22.7%). However, net sales of Grupo Modelo only increased 6.5% which was attributed to an 8.4% fall in real terms in the average price per hectolitre for the domestic market. Consolidated net income for the first quarter stood at Ps. 1.123 bn, up 11.4%. Operating margin was reduced 0.4% to 25.2%. "The sale of assets not related to our main activity as well as lower advertising expenses have offset the gross margin reduction, maintaining the operating margin relatively stable," Carlos Fernandez, CEO of Grupo Modelo, was quoted as saying.

Nothing in excess

Grupo Modelo got itself a flashy website which would make the film geeks in Hollywood envious. Visit www.gmodelo.com and should you feel like booking a holiday, check out its "Mexico on video" section (follow the "multimedia" link). This should give you some idea about sun, surf, sea and ... whateveryoulike.