SIDEL BEVERAGE AFRICA (SBA) PARTNERSHIP

Sidel has demonstrated a commitment to continue developing its support for customers in Africa with the announcement it is renewing an agreement with long term partner SBA. The development is part of the Sidel strategy of providing global experience backed by local sales and service support through proximity to customers.

Sidel has worked closely with SBA since 1999 when SBA started representing the leading global provider of liquid packaging solutions and this year sees Sidel and SBA signing another partnership contract. This collaboration provides further improvements in access to local resources for Sidel customers in East Africa, Ethiopia, West and Central Africa. Claude Bosson is the CEO of SBA and has been working on the African continent since 1985, gaining extensive experience of the bottling industry and the specific requirements of the African market. Having established SBA in 1995, he has grown the company to the point where it now has 70 employees, with offices in Nigeria, Kenya, the Ivory Coast and Congo, along with subsidiary operations in the RDC (République démocratique du Congo), Cameroon and Angola.

Clive Smith, Zone Vice President for Greater Middle East andAfricaat Sidel, comments on the value of the long term relationship, both to Sidel and to the company's customers -"What we have is a true partnership between the two businesses. The signing of this new contract demonstrates our commitment to resources for our African customers, with SBA providing service, spare parts, sales support, training and audits at a local level - effectively operating as a conduit between us and the customers. It demonstrates our continued confidence in Claude and his team at SBA."

Sidel has recently provided significant service and sales support to SBA, enabling the business to invest in further developing its capabilities in what is a rapidly expanding sector for liquid packaging. This investment includes the establishing of a training program to enhance the skills of locally based engineers.

Claude Bosson commented - "When we started working with Sidel back in 1999, there was no PET in west and eastAfrica.  During our 14 years of collaboration we have developed the market to become one of the leaders on the African continent. With the signing of this contract, the investment it represents and the structure we have in place, together Sidel and SBA are aiming to deliver a much higher quality of service and support to our existing and potential customers."

The latest office to be opened by SBA as part of the on-going relationship with Sidel is in Kenya's capital Nairobi. The team in the Kenyan office covers various functions including technicians, sales staff and spare parts - supporting Sidel customers in the African countries. Sidel has a particularly strong presence in Ethiopia,providing support for seven Sidel lines,and it also operates inEritrea, Uganda and Kenya. Proximity to customers is again a driving force behind the opening of the office. The strategic location in Nairobi means that experienced technicians have a flight time of around an hour to get to the plants of most customers, with spare parts also held in Nairobito facilitate speed of response. A recent project in which the technicians in Kenya played an integral role was the completion of Sidel's first ever Returnable Glass Bottling (RGB) line for carbonated soft drinks (CSD) in Kenya. The project saw a doubling of the plant's bottle output and efficiency improvements of 36 percent.  They also assisted substantially in the final commissioning of a new PET line, for CSD and water, ensuring the customer's continued growth in market share in their market.

Also, following the recent announcement on the opening of a new regional Sidel headquarters in Dubai, serving the Greater Middle East and Africa region, Sidel sees an even greater opportunity to support customers. In fact, the office will bring logistics, servicing, training and regional co-ordination all under one roof.

Africa - along with the Middle East, South America andAsia- is presently growing at a much faster economic rate than those of the established western world, offering potential for significant growth in the liquid packaging market.  In Liquid Dairy Products (LDP), Africa is forecast to become the world's second fastest growing market, with demand annually increasing by 3.5 percent to around 17.3 billion litres over the period 2011-2014. There is also an increasing growth in 'middle-class' consumers, with a greater expendable income, bringing a demand for access to more sophisticated products.  As a result, many well-known brands of drink are becoming more readily available throughout the African continent. The investment from SBA and Sidel recognises these trends, providing the means to provide local service backed by Sidel's 50 years' experience in blowing, 150 years in filling and 35 years in labelling proven in projects throughout the world.