BOTSWANA – Coca-Cola Beverages Botswana (CCBB) has boosted its capacity with the opening of a new depot in Palapye, a growing town in Botswana.

Keeping the central and northern parts of the country refreshed, the new warehouse will also improve customer service by reducing out of stock situations and help to improve CCBB products’ availability in the region.

Further to that, the new depot will ensure customers have a regular supply of products.

Previously, CCBB relied on its warehouse in Francistown to supply the north and central regions of the country and the limited capacity of the warehouse resulted in bottlenecks.

Due to its small size, it could not hold sufficient stock to satisfy all CCBB’s customers in those regions.

“Any disruption in stock transfers from Gaborone to Francistown would lead to stock shortages and customers running out of affected packs,” highlighted the parent company, Coca-Cola Beverages Africa.

With volumes expected to continue growing in the north, the strategically located Palapye depot will start distributing to neighbouring areas, including Serowe, Mahalapye, Selibe Phikwe and Letlhakane.

“This will significantly improve CCBB’s ability to respond to increases in product demand and ensure that consumers and customers are always satisfied,” stated CCBA.

The depot currently employs five people and this is expected to increase along with growth in demand.

It has also created employment for the local community by contracting cleaning, sanitation and security services.

CCBA acquired 50.1% of the Botswana Coca-Cola franchise in 2018 with the balance of 49.9% owned by Sechaba Brewery Holdings Ltd (Sechaba), a listed company in Botswana.

CCBA bottles and distributes beverages whose trademarks are owned by The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) or TCCC’s affiliated entities and is the world’s 8th largest Coca-Cola bottler by revenue and the largest on the continent.

Its African footprint now encompasses South Africa, Ghana, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, Mozambique, Comoros, Mayotte, Zambia, Botswana, Eswatini and Lesotho.

In a bid to establish the bottler as an independent, Africa-focused, entity, The Coca-Cola Company is planning to list CCBA as a publicly traded entity.

The giant soft beverage manufacturer intends to sell a portion of its shareholding in CCBA, via an initial public offering that will see shares traded on the JSE and Amsterdam, being the primary exchange.

The decision is in line with The Coca-Cola Company’s objective of focusing its resources on building consumer-loved brands and innovation.

The exact timing of the listing will be driven by a number of factors, including macroeconomic conditions.

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