 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Alcoholic beverage |
| Founded | 8 November 1922; 103 years ago (1922-11-08) |
| Headquarters | , |
| Products | Beer |
| Revenue |  US$699.8 million (2014) |
 US$118.7 million (2014) | |
| Owner | Diageo |
Number of employees | 1,653 (2014) |
| Website | http://www.eabl.com |
East African Breweries Limited, commonly referred to asEABL, is a Kenyan-basedholding company that manufactures branded beer, spirits, and non-alcoholic beverages.
The group's headquarters are located inNairobi,Kenya, with subsidiaries inKenya,Uganda,Tanzania andSouth Sudan. The group has distribution partners inBurundi,Democratic Republic of Congo andRwanda.
East African Breweries Limited was founded in 1922, as Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL), by two Welshmen, George and Charles Hurst. The company was owned by the Dodd family of Kenya.
KBL acquiredTanganyika-basedTanganyika Breweries in 1935 and 1936 these two companies were merged leading to the creation of theEast African Breweries Limited (EABL).[1] The group continued expanding locally through the opening of more breweries such as Mombasa brewery.
In 1954, EABL got listed on theNairobi Securities Exchange. This was among the first listings in the region's oldest stock exchange. As a group, EABL expanded into Uganda through the acquisition of Uganda Breweries in 1959.[2]
In 1964, the group's subsidiary name in present-day Tanzania was changed from Tanganyika Breweries Limited toTanzania Breweries Limited (TBL) following the political unification ofTanganyika and thePeople's Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba to form theUnited Republic of Tanzania. This led to increased market for the group through the creation of the union. However, in 1979 theGovernment of Tanzania nationalized TBL as part of theArusha Declaration.[3] The group officially opened Central Glass Industries Limited (CGI) in 1987, as a producer of glass containers and bottles, therefore leading to internal sourcing.
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In 2000, Diageo acquired majority control of EABL and in the following year the group cross-listed its share on the Uganda Securities Exchange.[2] EABL is a constituent company of the NSE 20 Share Index.[4]
In the late 1990s to the early 2000s was a period of beer wars inEast Africa involvingSouth African Breweries International (NowSABMiller) and EABL.
These wars ended in 2002 when EABL signed license agreements with South African Breweries International and agreed to terms for share swap in their subsidiaries: Kenya Breweries Limited and Tanzania Breweries Limited (now an SABI subsidiary).[2]
In share exchange EABL acquired a 20% equity stake in TBL and agreed to issue SABI a similar share Kenya Breweries Limited.
And SABI exited the Kenyan market while EABL exited the Tanzanian market by handing over its Kibo subsidiary to TBL.This partnership gave TBL 98% share of the Tanzanian market as of 2004.[5]
In the same year, EABL acquired 100% of shares in International Distillers Uganda Limited and 46.32% of the issued shares of UDV Kenya Limited.
The partnership between EABL and SAB Miller in Tanzania went through turbulence in 2009, with EABL claiming breach of contract by Tanzania Breweries (TBL), a subsidiary of SAB Miller, accusing it of manufacture of low quality EABL products under a previously agreed arrangement and at the same time restricting access to the Tanzanian market of some of Diageo/EABL products.
This led to EABL's acquisition of 51% ofSerengeti Breweries Limited (SBL)[2] and exit from TBL's shareholder structure through a $71.5 million successful secondary offer on theDar es Salaam Stock Exchange in 2011.[6] SAB Miller sold it stake Kenya Breweries to East African Breweries.
In 2013, EABL commenced operations in South Sudan through the establishment ofEast African Beverages South Sudan Limited (EABSS) as a depot in Juba in order to reduce over reliance on third party distributors' logistical arrangements that led to periodic stock outs.[2]
The subsidiaries of EABL include:[7]
The group's largest shareholder isDiageo Plc. EABL is listed on theNairobi Stock Exchange,Uganda Securities Exchange andDar es Salaam Stock Exchanges. The shareholding in the group's stock was as depicted in the table below:[7]
| East African Breweries Limited Stock Ownership | ||||||||||||
|
| Type | Beer,pale lager,premium lager |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Kenya Breweries |
| Origin | Kenya |
| Introduced | 1922 |
| Alcohol by volume | 4.2%(regular) 5.0%(malt) 4.0%(lite) |
| Website | Official brand website |
Tusker is the main brand of Kenya Breweries with over 30% of the Kenyan beer market selling more than 700,000 hectolitres per year. Tusker is also the largest African beer brand in theDiageo group.[16] It is a 4.2%ABVpale lager. The brand was first marketed in 1923, shortly after the founder of Kenya Breweries Ltd, George Hurst, was killed by an elephant during a hunting accident. His remaining founder and brother Charles decided to name the company's first lager, Tusker, since large, male elephants indigenous to East Africa, were called tuskers.[17] It was in this year that the elephant logo, that is synonymous with Tusker Lager, was incorporated. The slogan "Bia Yangu, Nchi Yangu", means "My Beer, My Country" inSwahili.
In early 2008, the UK supermarket chainTesco began selling Tusker, followed soon after bySainsbury's.[18]
Tusker Lager,Tusker Malt Lager,Pilsner andWhite Cap Lager have received each a Gold Quality Award at the World Quality Selections, organised yearly byMonde Selection, a highly respected InternationalQuality Institute.[19]
The company also makesUganda Waragi, a 40% ABV brand ofwaragi, a traditional Ugandan liquor, and the leading brandeddistilled beverage in Uganda. It istriple distilled and made frommillet. It is known in Uganda as "the Spirit of Uganda". The main markets include other African countries such asRwanda, theDemocratic Republic of Congo andSudan.[20]
In 1965, "TheEnguli Act" decreed that distillation would only be legal under license, and distillers should sell to theparastatal Uganda Distilleries Limited, which produced a branded bottled product, marketed under the nameUganda Waragi.
The EABL Foundation is thecorporate social responsibility arm of East African Breweries, founded in 2005. It assists people in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania through five areas of activity: water supply, education and training, health, environment, and special projects. Through the skills for life program, The EABL Foundation provides scholarships for undergraduates[21] in the three East African Countries.
Its ongoing projects include the construction of an optical center inMoshi,Tanzania, the support of the Sickle Cell Association ofUganda and the donation of an Ultra Sound Machine to Kirwara Hospital inThika, Kenya. The foundation has supplied overKSh.70 million/= (approx. US$972,000) in university scholarships.
The EABL Foundation conducts special projects in times of disaster and when emergency relief is needed. Most recently, the foundation took part in the Save A Life Fund, in which it donated over KSh.14 million/= (approx. US$194,000) towards famine relief.[22]
On 21 August 2012, the company signed a deal worthKSh.170 million/= (US$2.02 million; £1.28 million stg;€1.62 million) with the Kenyan Premier League for its renaming to theTusker Premier League. This made it the most lucrative deal ever made in Kenyan football history.[23]
Tusker FC is a football club owned by East African Breweries. It is based inNairobi, Kenya. It is the third most successful club in Kenya with eight Kenyan league championships and three Kenyan cup wins. In addition, it has won four East AfricanCECAFA Clubs Cup titles.
The club was known as "Kenya Breweries" until 1999, when the current name was adopted. Tusker has two home stadiums, theMoi International Sports Centre, where it mainly plays its home matches, and theRuaraka Sports Ground.
In August 2012, East African Breweries signed a sponsorship deal worth US$450,000 withCECAFA to have theCECAFA Cup renamed to theCECAFA Tusker Challenge Cup.[24]
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