Each month we focus the spotlight on the latest sector or banking region, accompanied by an interactive list of Africa’s top players drawn from our two annual rankings, the Top 500 Companies and Top 200 Banks in Africa. We’re also highlighting related articles from our free archive.
This month we are focusing on Africa’s agribusiness companies, which have been helped by a soft landing for soft commodities.
Soft commodities have been the quiet success story of the last two years of economic uncertainty. Most prices slackened-off from their sky-high levels of mid-2008, but the bottom never fell out of the market. Our Top 500 rankings show that the majority of African agribusiness firms had a difficult 2008; however 2009 saw a quick recovery, with the bigger firms continuing to invest and expand their activities.
African agriculture is finally getting some of the sophisticated financial attention it deserves. Private equity and venture capital firms, usually scared off by the risk involved in agriculture, have begun fundraising for agribusiness-funds with gusto.
South Africa’s Standard Bank will lend $100m to smallholder farmers in the next three years to help them grow export crops. Mozambique’s Beira Agricultural Growth Corridor, a partnership of investors committed to finding innovative ways of financing infrastructure for the region’s agricultural value chain, are cementing agricultural opportunities within the orbit of international financiers.
South African farmers now have access to 10m acres of land in the Democratic Republic of Congo after a deal was signed between the two governments in October 2009. Alongside them, South Africa’s agribusiness companies have continued their continental cross-pollination. Tiger Brands’ growth strategy kept its focus on the expansion of its African portfolio, and was rewarded with an 8% rise in turnover in 2009 to R20.4bn ($2.7bn). The company bought a 51% stake in consumer-goods company Haco Industries in Kenya, 74.7% in Cameroonian confectionery firm Chococam and acquired Nestlé’s gourmet Crosse & Blackwell business in October 2009, which it will integrate into its South African grocery range.
Profile: Nigerian Breweries
A bellwether for the Nigerian Stock
Exchange, Nigerian Breweries (NB) and its trademark Star beer are
ubiquitous throughout the country, with a market share comfortably over
50%. NB was bought out by Dutch giants Heineken in 2000, and thirsty
Nigerians have repaid the investment with gusto.
The Ama brewery in
Enugu state was completed in 2003, modernising the capital stock
comprehensively, expanding production and allowing an older brewery to
be retired. Provisional results for the company in the first half of
2010 saw turnover rise toN88.4bn ($585m). This was up 7% on the same
exercise the year before. However, operating profits dropped 5.5% to
N23.27bn.
Nicholas Norbrook
Brewer SABMiller reported a 6% rise in pre-tax earnings in the 2009/10 financial year. While lager volumes fell by 3% in South Africa in 2009 as the recession affected sales, they grew in the rest of Africa by 3%. Growth for 2010 is expected to be 3.1%. Targeting this market, SABMiller introduced new local premium beers in five African markets, plans to double its brewery operations in Juba, South Sudan and plans to commission plants in Tanzania, Mozambique and Angola. The group is reaping the benefits of sourcing produce locally. In December 2009, its Ugandan subsidiary, Nile Breweries, announced a $16m investment in a malting plant, after the success of a project using locally-grown sorghum.
Healthy commodity prices helped shore up companies against wider drops in consumer spending. Pioneer Foods ended September 2009 with revenue at R16.3bn, up 9% on the previous year thanks to a good performance from Sasko, its division of grain-based staples, as sales of its White Star maize meal soared. Cevital, Algeria’s largest private company, continued its expansion into retail and planned to open its first hypermarket in Algiers under the brand Uno, with a programme to build 135 such stores.
Sugar prices rose to a 29-year high in early 2010 but have proved volatile. Illovo Sugar is now finding its operations in Zambia more profitable than those in South Africa. Despite revenue of R43.5bn from the domestic market, the group sold its KwaZulu Natal operations and became a stand-alone subsidiary in South Africa in April 2010. Illovo expects Zambia, Malawi and Swaziland to eventually become its biggest operations and is also establishing operations in Mozambique and Mali.
AGRIBUSINESS RANKING
A list of Africa’as biggest miners, taken from our interactive annual list of Africa’s Top 500 companies, published in the February-March 2010 edition of The Africa Report.
Rank 09
Rank 08
Company name
Country
Sector
Turnover (Thds $)
Turnover change
Net profits
60
53
TIGER BRANDS
SOUTH AFRICA
AGRIBUSINESS
2101209.46
-12.45%
240216.41
69
74
CÉVITAL
ALGERIA
AGRIBUSINESS
1799753
15.94%
344328
80
66
PIONEER FOODS GROUP
SOUTH AFRICA
AGRIBUSINESS
1572534.32
-9.03%
47769.22
105
102
AFGRI
SOUTH AFRICA
AGRIBUSINESS
1117468.5
-3.12%
23285.58
127
116
ILLOVO SUGAR
SOUTH AFRICA
AGRIBUSINESS
908769.61
-9.65%
101836.04
129
127
FLOUR MILLS NIGERIA
NIGERIA
AGRIBUSINESS
904988.83
-0.61%
45107.31
132
124
ASTRAL FOODS
SOUTH AFRICA
AGRIBUSINESS
864661.26
-7.73%
34575.12
151
121
TONGAAT-HULETT GROUP
SOUTH AFRICA
AGRIBUSINESS
750748.9
-20.71%
68566.85
154
–
CARGILL CÔTE D’IVOIRE
CÔTE D’IVOIRE
AGRIBUSINESS
729675
–
-0
156
130
RAINBOW CHICKEN
SOUTH AFRICA
AGRIBUSINESS
719629.48
-18.38%
33538.8
157
147
COMP. SUCRIÈRE MAROC. DE RAFFINAGE
MOROCCO
AGRIBUSINESS
709944.05
-9.67%
62302.46
158
123
ANGLOVAAL INDUSTRIES
SOUTH AFRICA
AGRIBUSINESS
703692.39
-24.94%
51736.81
188
157
CLOVER HOLDINGS
SOUTH AFRICA
AGRIBUSINESS
605941.95
-13.49%
13271.96
189
188
SUGAR AND INT. INDUSTRIES CO.*
EGYPT
AGRIBUSINESS
598931.61
–
63121.74
200
215
LESIEUR CRISTAL
MOROCCO
AGRIBUSINESS
560186.43
15.83%
19671.18
207
200
CENTRALE LAITIÈRE
MOROCCO
AGRIBUSINESS
531171.75
-3.63%
58203.78
277
255
NESTLÉ NIGERIA
NIGERIA
AGRIBUSINESS
366799.04
-3.38%
59065.55
290
312
CAIRO POULTRY
EGYPT
AGRIBUSINESS
350273.23
18.08%
29166.54
303
247
OCEANA GROUP
SOUTH AFRICA
AGRIBUSINESS
317211.59
-17.87%
26863.63
307
302
HUILERIES DU SOUSS BELHASSAN*
MOROCCO
AGRIBUSINESS
311658.59
–
1978.59
319
322
DANGOTE FLOUR MILLS
NIGERIA
AGRIBUSINESS
299155.8
–
3981.18
339
–
COOPÉRATIVE COPAG TAROUDANT
MOROCCO
AGRIBUSINESS
277397.55
–
0
346
320
FOOD AND ALLIED GROUP OF COMPANIES
MAURITIUS
AGRIBUSINESS
271270.36
-7.02%
10618.28
350
–
DÉLICES DANONES
TUNISIA
AGRIBUSINESS
265290
–
0
375
459
PALM-CI
CÔTE D’IVOIRE
AGRIBUSINESS
243748.19
53.00%
22541.94
377
370
SEFALANA HOLDING CO.
BOTSWANA
AGRIBUSINESS
241583.16
4.49%
9348.39
384
430
NESTLÉ CÔTE D’IVOIRE
CÔTE D’IVOIRE
AGRIBUSINESS
235340.46
–
10859.47
391
359
OUTSPAN IVOIRE
CÔTE D’IVOIRE
AGRIBUSINESS
231685.51
-3.86%
280.54
397
377
ROYAL SWAZILAND SUGAR CORP.*
SWAZILAND
AGRIBUSINESS
227634.42
–
20654.26
408
438
SOC. AFR. DE PLANTATIONS D’HÉVÉAS
CÔTE D’IVOIRE
AGRIBUSINESS
221950.26
28.62%
61268.12
412
366
SEVEN-UP BOTTLING CO.
NIGERIA
AGRIBUSINESS
216724.91
-7.97%
11406.2
436
448
MIDDLE & WEST DELTA FLOUR MILLS
EGYPT
AGRIBUSINESS
194647.47
15.77%
7855.25
444
401
PRODUCE BUYING CO.
GHANA
AGRIBUSINESS
189267.53
-6.61%
1626.83
448
369
SUNEOR
SENEGAL
AGRIBUSINESS
184406.85
-20.65%
-6850.49
450
442
ILLOVO MALAWI
MALAWI
AGRIBUSINESS
183788.74
6.77%
66982.1
453
413
COUNTRY BIRD HOLDINGS
SOUTH AFRICA
AGRIBUSINESS
178466.41
-7.92%
1735.09
462
437
NESTLÉ GHANA*
GHANA
AGRIBUSINESS
173490.95
–
18498.83
464
LES GRANDS MOULINS DE DAKAR
SENEGAL
AGRIBUSINESS
173169.64
0
466
–
CADBURY NIGERIA
NIGERIA
AGRIBUSINESS
172262.7
–
-19849.2
499
–
THE EGYPT. FREEZ. AND BEEF PROC. CO.
EGYPT
AGRIBUSINESS
154643.48
–
4294
2008 RESULTS IN THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS – *IN ITALICS 2007 RESULTS – ND: NO DATA
Understand Africa's tomorrow... today
We believe that Africa is poorly represented, and badly under-estimated. Beyond the vast opportunity manifest in African markets, we highlight people who make a difference; leaders turning the tide, youth driving change, and an indefatigable business community. That is what we believe will change the continent, and that is what we report on. With hard-hitting investigations, innovative analysis and deep dives into countries and sectors, The Africa Report delivers the insight you need.
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