SABMiller plc announced July 10 that in 2009 it will open a new $125 million brewery and sparkling soft drinks (SSD) plant in Angola to support the country's growing demand for beverages. SABMiller has rapidly expanded its production assets, depots, sales force and route to market in Angola as the country has maintained its strong economic growth record.
On completion of the new brewery and SSD plant, SABMiller will have invested approximately $250 million in upgrading or building new facilities across Angola in 18 months.
Production of clear beer will begin at the new greenfield brewery in Luanda in northern Angola in October 2009. This $125 million facility will produce approximately 500,000 hectoliters of clear beer and employ 500 people from the surrounding area. This will take the total number of people employed by SABMiller and its joint venture partner Empresa Cervejas de N'gola, to over 2000 across their five brewery and bottling facilities in Angola.
The new SSD plant will see production beginning on three bottling lines, capable of producing 200,000 hectoliters per year.
Mark Bowman, managing director for SABMiller Africa, says "SABMiller remains positive about the potential of the Angolan market and in conjunction with our partners, we are continuing to invest in what will be a bright future for the business. Angola's economy has held up well during the global economic crisis and our team on the ground has risen to the challenges posed by supply chain and infrastructural constraints."
Last year saw additional capacity added to SABMiller's existing operations, with a new SSD line opened at the Catumbela facility in June and then in November work was completed on expanding the capacity of the Lubango brewhouse to 820,000 hectoliters.
SABMiller has shown a strong commitment to staff training in the country and will have spent $2.5 million on ensuring employees at the new brewery and SSD plant will meet the required proficiency levels upon opening.
The company has also to date trained nearly 200 graduates on its apprentice scheme. Successful applicants initially spend time at the company's technical college where they are taught mechanical and electrical skills before rotating around the business for three months. They are then placed within one of the company's facilities across Angola.
SABMiller's first investment into Angola came in 1997 prior to the end of the civil war in 2002. It started managing Empresa de Cervejas Ngola in Lubango under a management contract with government in 1997 and rehabilitated the brewery during that year. It started managing the SSD business in Luanda in 1999 and invested in an additional SSD production facility in Lubango in 2001.
SABMiller is one of the world's largest brewers with brewing interests and distribution agreements across six continents. The group's wide portfolio of brands includes premium international beers such as Grolsch, Miller Genuine Draft, Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Pilsner Urquell, as well as market-leading local brands such as Aguila, Castle, Miller Lite, Snow and Tyskie. SABMiller is also one of the largest bottlers of Coca-Cola products in the world.
