African Distillers is a company in Zimbabwe. It is one of the largest producers of alcoholic beverages, primarily distilled spirits and wines, in Zimbabwe.

History

The company was founded in 1944 as "P J Joubert Limited", a wine import firm and then purchased a

distillery Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heati ...

Mutare Mutare (formerly Umtali) is the most populous city in the province of Manicaland, and the third most populous city in Zimbabwe, having surpassed Gweru in the 2012 census, with an urban area, urban population of 224,802 and approximately 260,567 ...

in 1946 and began manufacturing beverages in its own right. In 1974, African Distillers moved its headquarters to Stapleford. It was estimated in 1989 that African Distillers produced about 3 million bottles of wine a year, three-quarters of the country's total domestic wine industry. The company's wine production is located at the Green Valley vineyards in Odzi.

Operations

In Zimbabwe, African Distillers maintains 6 supply depots, at Bulawayo, Harare, Kwekwe, Masvingo,

and Victoria Falls. African Distillers operates 3 cash and carry

outlet stores An outlet store, factory outlet or factory shop is a brick and mortar or online store in which manufacturers sell their stock directly to the public. Traditionally, a factory outlet was a store attached to a factory or warehouse, sometimes allowin ...

, at Harare, Mutare and Bulawayo. The company's products include

Spirit portfolio

Wine portfolio

Ownership

The

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

of African Distillers listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, where it trades under the symbol AFDS and is part of the

Zimbabwe Industrial Index The Zimbabwe Industrial Index is a stock index derived from the values of industrial stocks on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. The Zimbabwe Mining Index is a separate stock index, composed of mining companies. Index listing :''March 2007'' Zimba ...

. As of , the largest shareholders in the company's stock were as depicted in the table below: 1→''Afdis Holdings'' is an investment holding company owned by Delta Corporation and Distell Group. Based on direct and indirect shareholding in African Distillers, Delta Corporation and Distell Group's effective control of the company is 50.44% and 30.04% respectively.

References