Quality Beverages Time, gentlemen
OK listen closely now, because it gets a little tricky here. We have plastic packaging specialist Bowler Metcalf, OK? And last year they transferred 100% of their soft-drink bottler business, Quality Beverages, to KZN rival Shoreline, for which they received 43% of a brand new entity, SoftBev, giving them a healthy chunk of a beverage business with turnover of over R1billion. But, and here’s a biggy, Bowler Metcalf will not be supplying plastic bottles to SoftBev, depriving it of potential operating profits of R34million. Bowler went into the deal after failing to achieve the success with Quality in Gauteng that it had pulled off in the thirsty valleys and arid heights of the Western Cape. Without the technology of its competitors, and with a leadership vacuum in Gauteng, Bowler had little choice to offload Quality before it was stomped on.
Comment: And all that remains is to convince the punters that this was a good idea.