SA’s largest alcohol producer Distell has bounced back to above pre-pandemic revenue levels in SA despite lockdowns and two alcohol bans, but it is holding on to dividends for its 2021 year, a condition of a potential takeover from Heineken.

The producer of Savanna cider and Klipdrift brandy said on Thursday that headline earnings, a measure of profit, tripled to R1.7bn in its year to end-June, with revenue in SA growing 5.8% compared with 2019, and 29.4% from 2020...