Investment case
Illovo is Africa’s leading and largest sugar producer, comprising agricultural estates and 16 manufacturing sites across six southern African countries, with the first origins of the group’s history dating back to 1891.
The primary objective that drives our investment case is to enhance the wealth of our shareholders by optimising the long-term returns and growth of the business, against the background of achieving a sustainable, balanced and integrated economic, social and environmental performance.
To be a world-class, low-cost and highly efficient organisation, operating on the African continent, with a clear, four-point focus on:
- Developing new markets
- Cost reduction
- Diversification through downstream expansion
- Preparing for long-term sugar expansion
- 14 top-level independent and non-independent directors with combined Illovo board experience of 124 years and direct sugar experience of 150 years
- Proven ability to execute strategies and deliver financial performance
- 12 838 permanent employees and 20 176 seasonal employees with embedded capabilities
- Quality and cost-effective production of raw and refined sugar, speciality sugars and syrups together with high-value, niche-market downstream furfural and ethanol products and electricity co-generation
- Strong and high-growth domestic and regional markets with proven expertise on the African continent for outbound logistics
- High community impact, core values aligned to social and environmental responsibility
- Continued development of Illovo’s cane sugar sustainability model, making maximum use of all input material with minimum waste products
- 89% of the group’s energy requirements produced from own generating capacity from renewable resources
- Best performer in the High Environmental Impact survey and inclusion in the JSE’s 2014 Socially Responsible Investment Index
- Quality of earnings and strong cash generation
- Strong balance sheet with low gearing – positioned for growth
- Attractive dividend yield
- Significant economic, operational and market scale – inherent leverage
- Illovo’s presence in African sugar production is widely recognised and it is the company of choice among governments wishing to develop/expand their own sugar industries
Top 10 shareholders
| Rank as at
27 March 2015 |
Manager | Number of ordinary shares |
% |
| 1 | ABF Overseas Limited | 236 569 232 | 51.35 |
| 2 | Allan Gray Investment Council | 74 023 679 | 16.07 |
| 3 | Public Investment Corporation | 33 581 890 | 7.29 |
| 4 | Investec Asset Management | 29 947 781 | 6.50 |
| 5 | Kagiso Asset Management (Pty) Ltd | 8 944 518 | 1.94 |
| 6 | Colonial First State Global Asset Management | 8 755 242 | 1.90 |
| 7 | Old Mutual plc | 7 674 305 | 1.67 |
| 8 | The Vanguard Group Inc. | 6 000 602 | 1.30 |
| 9 | Dimensional Fund Advisors | 5 653 284 | 1.23 |
| 10 | Sanlam Investment Management | 5 295 240 | 1.15 |
