Booze ban: AB InBev battles to keep faith in SA
We asked Andrew Murray, vice-president of finance, Africa zone at AB InBev, whether it’s money that will now never be invested, or just capital spend delayed
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s much-touted investment drive is starting to look as threadbare as his promises to eradicate corruption. First, global brewer Heineken indicated it will ice a R6bn expansion in SA thanks to the ruinous booze ban, then SA Breweries, now part of AB InBev, said it will cancel R2.5bn of spend as part of its annual capex programme, having lost as much as 30% of this year’s sales. Worse, next year’s R2.5bn capex is under review too. We asked Andrew Murray, vice-president of finance, Africa zone at AB InBev, whether it’s money that will now never be invested, or just capital spend delayed.
AM: The capital for this year is money that will not be spent. We had programmes that were cancelled for the course of 2020 and we’re reviewing what will be spent in future...
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