limited type subsidiary industry consumer goods founded 1895 johannesburg headquarters johannesburg south africa area served southern africa key people norman adami 1 chairman and managing director products beer soft drinks number of employees approximately 9 400 2 parent sabmiller website sa breweries south african breweries officially the south african breweries limited informally sab is a brewing and bottling company headquartered in johannesburg south africa and a wholly owned subsidiary of sabmiller . it is the dominant brewing company in south africa with a market share of around 89 per cent . 3 the company was founded in 1895 as castle breweries to serve a growing market of miners and prospectors in and around johannesburg . two years later it became the first industrial company to list on the johannesburg stock exchange and the year after 1898 it listed on the london stock exchange . 4 in 1950 sab relocated its headquarters and control from london to south africa . 4 from the early 1990s onwards the company increasingly expanded internationally making several acquisitions in both emerging and developed markets . in 1999 it formed a new uk based holding company sab plc and moved its primary listing to london . in may 2002 sab plc acquired miller brewing forming sabmiller plc. sab operates seven breweries in south africa with an annual capacity of 3.1 billion litres . 2 its principal beer brands are carling black label castle lager castle lite castle milk stout and hansa pilsener . 2 its soft drinks division amalgamated beverage industries is the largest producer and distributor of coca cola brands in southern africa . 2 sab also owns a hop production company the south african breweries hop farms a barley farming company the south african breweries barley farms a barley malting company the south african breweries maltings and holds a 60 per cent stake in the metal crown manufacturer coleus packaging . 2 contents 1 history 1.1 brewing in south africa 1.2 list of breweries 1.3 soft drinks 1.4 plate glass 1.5 entertainment and hospitality 1.6 other manufacturing and retail 1.7 international expansion 2 controversy 3 references 4 further reading 5 external links history edit brewing in south africa edit main article castle brewery prior to incorporation in the year 1895 castle brewery had operations in cape town to serve the steady expansion of a settler community from the mid 17th century . the demand for beer prompted the first dutch governor jan van riebeeck to establish a brewery at the fort later replaced by the castle in central cape town as early as 1658 beating the first wine production by six months . in the same year pieter visagie brewed the first beer from the waters of the liesbeeck river . over the next 200 years brewing made its mark in the cape and beyond . noted brewers of the time included cloete at the newlands brewery ; ohlsson at the anneberg brewery ; jacob letterstedt at mariendahl brewery also in newlands hiddingh at cannon brewery ; martienssen at the salt river brewery and a second cloete in kloof street . one of the key figures in the story of newlands and in the annals of south african beer manufacturing history was swede anders ohlsson who sailed for africa aged 23 in 1864 . initially he imported swedish goods and timbers and developed an extensive trade network and a solid business empire . then he turned to brewing basing himself at newlands where he produced lion lager . in 1955 the south african government introduced a heavy tax on beer products causing many consumers to switch to spirits . however the subsequent shock to the south african beer industry proved to be a blessing in disguise for sab . a year later the company purchased its two main competitors ohlsson s and chandlers union breweries both of whom were struggling under the depressed demand for beer . after the acquisitions the new and larger sab was able to rationalize operations thereby reducing costs and increasing profitability . by 1998 sab commanded approximately 98 per cent share of the south african beer market and was considered one of the lowest cost producers of beer in the world . within south africa sab distributes beer through its extensive network augmented by a fleet of independent truck drivers called owner drivers comprising mainly former employees many of whom had received help from the group to start their own businesses . sab has invested billions of rands in this owner driver project since inception . although several international brewers such as the uk s whitbread had tried to enter the south african market all had thus far failed to gain significant market share . from time to time new startups also tried to challenge sab s monopoly but these had either gone out of business or been acquired by sab . a case in point was national sorghum breweries nsb a black business consortium founded in 1990 and the first new player in the beer industry in more than 10 years . sab s supremacy is under threat observers said and some thought that within a few years nsb could achieve 10 per cent market share . instead the company ran into financial difficulties and failed to gain any significant share of the market . this does not mean that sab s position could never be threatened . in 2004 a new company was established in south africa known as brandhouse through a joint venture of diageo heineken and namibian breweries . brandhouse started marketing selling and distributing some of the world s top premium brands such as heineken and windhoek and in march 2007 the 40 year agreement between sabmiller plc and heineken n.v. which allowed sab ltd to brew and distribute amstel lager in south africa was terminated sparking a new era of competition for the industry . at the same time heineken announced its intention to build its own brewery in south africa . sab ltd launched a new premium brand hansa marzen gold shortly thereafter and continued its expansion into premium brands with the launch of dutch heritage beer grolsch following sabmiller s acquisition of koninklijke grolsch n.v. in early 2008 . dreher premium lager was launched in south africa the same year and the company has made a number of innovations in the spirit cooler and apple ale categories in recent years . list of breweries edit alrode brewery gauteng 26 18 48.5 s 28 08 11.2 e 26.313472 s 28.136444 e 26.313472 ; 28.136444 chamdor brewery gauteng 26 09 12.2 s 27 47 40.3 e 26.153389 s 27.794528 e 26.153389 ; 27.794528 ibhayi brewery eastern cape 33 50 15.8 s 25 32 30.9 e 33.837722 s 25.541917 e 33.837722 ; 25.541917 newlands brewery western cape 33 58 23.5 s 18 27 56.9 e 33.973194 s 18.465806 e 33.973194 ; 18.465806 polokwane brewery limpopo 23 51 50.0 s 29 28 21.1 e 23.863889 s 29.472528 e 23.863889 ; 29.472528 prospecton brewery kwazulu natal 29 59 29.2 s 30 55 42.5 e 29.991444 s 30.928472 e 29.991444 ; 30.928472 rosslyn brewery north west 25 37 26.0 s 28 05 23.9 e 25.623889 s 28.089972 e 25.623889 ; 28.089972 soft drinks edit in 1925 sab expanded into other beverages after purchasing a large share in schweppes soft drinks . in 1960 the group purchased a controlling interest in stellenbosch farmer s winery which along with distillers corporation contributed r98 million to group earnings in 1997 . 1997 sab subsidiary amalgamated beverage industries purchased another coca cola bottler suncrush thereby doubling market share to approximately 60 per cent of south african soft drinks . pepsico sab s only competitor withdrew from the market in 1997 resulting in the liquidation of pepsi franchisees . pepsi however re entered the south african market in 2006 . in december 2004 sab ltd acquired 100 % of amalgamated beverage industries limited abi which became the soft drink division of sab ltd and the largest beverage company in south africa was created . plate glass edit in 1917 the group began to venture into unrelated businesses when it agreed to take over a failed glass manufacturer union glass to counter the acute shortage of bottles during world war i. in 1954 union glass merged with consolidated glassworks and this business was sold off in 1960 to anglovaal industries . the company became an important player in international glass manufacturing when it acquired the plate glass group in 1992 . the plate glass group traced its roots to a british immigrant and entrepreneur who in 1897 established a plate glass manufacturing operation in cape town south africa . eventually the company became a leading producer of safety and bullet proof glass for automobiles . in 1987 the company launched a new subsidiary in the united states in partnership with sab and anglo american . when glass medic a us based windshield repair and replacement company was acquired in 1990 the south african parent company merged the subsidiaries under the name belron international . belron became a base from which to launch further acquisitions . when sab purchased plate glass in 1992 it was renamed shatterprufe limited . belron had by 1998 become the world s leading producer of automotive replacement glass with some 1 865 retail outlets in north america europe australia and brazil . growth had come mainly through acquisitions . in 1997 belron acquired several leading brands including standard autoglass in canada thereby becoming the largest player in the north american markets . worldwide market share was on the order of 18 per cent and sab envisioned further expansion in the coming years belron can confidently anticipate significant growth in market share over time . other growth opportunities include the asian market . in europe belron was opening an average of 12 new outlets per month . while sales had increased by five per cent in 1997 earnings had declined eight per cent to r255 million as a result of the borrowing costs associated with new acquisitions and expansion . recognising the need to enhance long term shareholder value in 1997 sab returned to its core beverage business locally and internationally selling off or closing non core operations over the next few years . amongst these was the plate glass business . entertainment and hospitality edit although sab then called castle breweries had established the first pub in south africa in 1896 it did not begin to invest heavily in service industries until 1949 when an aggressive expansion thrust saw some 4.5 million invested in hotels and pubs as well as additional brewing facilities . in 1969 these interests were merged with a hotel chain owned by sol kerzner to form a separate subsidiary known as southern sun hotels . kerzner remained with southern sun as its managing director for several years thereafter . in 1983 kerzner left sab but remained a significant shareholder in the company . southern sun eventually grew to become the leading hotel chain in south africa with franchises awarded by holiday inn and inter continental hotels . by 1998 this subsidiary owned 74 hotels with 12 200 rooms or about 22 per cent of industry capacity . southern sun also maintained a minority interest in an eco tourism company . development of new hotels depended on securing licenses from the government as the state still owned large tracts of land in both urban and rural areas . moreover suitable locations for hotel and resort development were very limited and local government officials often did not have the training and expertise needed to make informed decisions about the granting of such licenses . resulting delays had cost the industry millions of dollars . nevertheless several international hotel chains decided to enter south africa after the lifting of economic sanctions . by 1998 numerous hotels were under construction by hyatt sheraton howard johnson s days inn hilton best western concorde france le meridian france and relais de