10 March 2006
	FOOD & BEVERAGES A TIGER on top in the FOOD SECTOR By Chris Gilmour Many companies have participated in BEE deals through their subsidiaries

Food & beverages as a single sector does not exist on the JSE, but for the purposes of Top Empowerment Companies we have cobbled together the beverage and food producers sectors. The beverage sector is dominated by one company and the food producers sector consists of one large company - Tiger Brands - and a handful of medium-sized food companies. Neither the food nor the beverage sectors as yet have charters, but the long-awaited liquor industry charter should be published in the course of 2006. A draft edition has already been circulated to players in the industry. Though Distell remained static in the rankings at number three, it entered into a meaningful black economic empowerment (BEE) transaction in September 2005. In terms of this transaction, a BEE consortium - comprising Wiphold, Distell employees and the CSI Trust - acquired a 15% stake in Distell's operating subsidiary. If Distell decides to increase its empowerment shareholding in future, the transaction structure would allow this with minimal extra requirements. Though few other companies in this composite sector have entered into equity transactions at the holding company level - many of them have transactions in subsidiaries - most of them have made significant progress in other areas. As far as broad-based empowerment is concerned, SA Breweries stands out as having the longest and most deeply entrenched programmes. Tiger Brands, noteworthy for its corporate social development and skills development, has an important and logical commitment to two initiatives in particular: the African Children's Feeding Scheme and Heartbeat.