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- SAB has launched a new, more modern logo.
- Its CEO believes better times lie ahead for South Africa thanks to a growing youthful population.
- A merged Heineken and Distell group could bring more competition to the market.
- For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page.
South African Breweries (SAB) has launched a new logo which the company says represents its positive outlook for the country, with its CEO optimistic about local prospects – even as he expects the merger of Heineken and Distell will bring more competition.
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The new logo shows a fuller circle with a more modern font.
"We are seeing a future with more cheers, so the gold arc represents the passion we have for the beer, the red is the passion for the country and where the two meet is where passion meets purpose, and our purpose is to really propel this country forward," Zoleka Lisa, vice-president of corporate affairs for SAB, said of the new logo.
In an interview with News24 following the rebranding launch on Wednesday, CEO Richard Rivett-Carnac said that the "fundamentals are very strong in SA", adding that while GDP growth is low, it was nonetheless still increasing and should kick up a gear with the government's energy plan and other structural reforms.
He believed government was focusing on the "right things" like solving the energy crisis, and water and transport infrastructure problems, as well as fighting crime.
"The government is very aware of these issues and working closely with the private sector to try to solve them. We just need to do things faster and implement faster. If we can unlock those four things, it will make a huge difference to the country."
At the same time, he said SA’s population, which is young, is also growing, which should offer support to SAB’s growth ambitions.
"It’s a young population, people are coming into the legal drinking age so the dynamics over the medium to long term are good from a macro perspective for growth."
SAB's local procurement sits at 95%
Rivett-Carnac said SA’s broad "diverse economy" also meant the company could procure "95% of what we need to put into our beers locally", which also positioned it well for growth.
"That is very important for growth for us. From seed to sip, 95% of it is locally procured. That is very important because any growth that does come, we are only reliant to a very small degree on international shipping lanes and ports. So where there is growth, we are able to service it from the local economy, which is super important."
Rivett-Carnac also said that relatively speaking, SA was also in a better position, at least in the short term, than Europe, which was in the grip of a war between Russia and Ukraine.
In May, SAB announced plans to invest a total of R4.5 billion in local operations this year as it looked to grow, with Rivett-Carnac confirming that the total investment for 2022 could end up being slightly ahead of this. This would help create about 40 000 jobs in the value chain. Included in this R4.5 billion is the expansion of capacity at the Prospecton and Ibhayi breweries in Durban and the Eastern Cape respectively.
The group also intends to make further investments in 2023 and beyond, but SAB still needs to finalise its budget allocations.
Rivett-Carnac said one of the biggest challenges remained load shedding, adding that SAB was lucky it was a "big business" and could afford to invest in generation "to move ourselves to going off the grid".
"We are not there yet but we have significant generation capacity at our breweries. We run a continuous system and any stoppages in lines that run 24 hours a day significantly impacts on the efficiencies of the business. We have invested in front of the curve to a degree to ensure we can be less and less reliant on electricity because that is the reality of where we are today."
He said SAB was also investing as much as it could "in renewables so we are signing renewable projects, we are putting in solar in every single roof top available".
Looming competition
As for the looming merger of Heineken and Distell and the expected increase in competition this would bring, Rivett-Carnac said he welcomed it and that SAB was prepared for it.
"We will be fighting the same brands in the market albeit in a combined entity."
He said Heineken and Distell were two "great companies with great people and great brands that are combining".
"Will they be stronger as a combined unit? Absolutely. We are not arrogant, we are very humble and we appreciate the challenge that the combination, if it is ultimately approved, will bring. But equally we back ourselves, we back our strategy, we back our people and our brands. We have invested behind all of these and will continue to invest."
