Nampak to boost Angola output

A production line at a Nampak Liquid Packaging plant. File picture: Jeffrey Abrahams

A production line at a Nampak Liquid Packaging plant. File picture: Jeffrey Abrahams

Published Nov 27, 2015

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Johannesburg - Nampak will increase production at its Angolan beverage-can factory after agreeing this week to supply the country’s main importer Refriango with “substantially more” than half of its requirements.

The Johannesburg-based company will raise output at its second production line in Angola after the deal, Chief Executive Officer Andre de Ruyter said in an interview on Thursday. The shares reversed losses and traded 2.3 percent higher at R23.01 at the market close in Johannesburg, paring the year’s decline to 47 percent.

Nampak, the only can producer with manufacturing operations in Angola, has benefited from customer demand for locally- sourced supplies due to restrictions on foreign exchange and government plans for an import duty, De Ruyter said in September. Already Africa’s largest maker of beverage cans, Nampak is seeking to expand outside of its home market to take advantage of wider profit margins in Angola and Nigeria.

“Our second line, an aluminum line, is now going to be ramping up to full capacity utilisation more quickly than we had previously anticipated,” De Ruyter said in the interview. Refriango has about 45 percent in the carbonated soft drink market in Angola, according to the CEO.

Nampak earlier said full-year trading profit gained 10 percent as growth in Nigeria and Angola offset production setbacks at some operations in South Africa.

BLOOMBERG

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