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 98 per cent.
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. In 1950, SAB relocated its headquarters and control from London to South Africa. 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. Its principal beer brands are Carling Black Label, Castle Lager, Castle Lite, Castle Milk Stout and Hansa Pilsener. Its soft drinks division, Amalgamated Beverage Industries, is the largest producer and distributor of Coca-Cola brands in Southern Africa. 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.
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