A food and beverage sector doesn't exist on the JSE - it's a convenient hybrid for FM Top Companies' purposes. The sector is dominated by London and JSE-listed SABMiller, in terms of both profitability and market capitalisation.

SABMiller confirmed its blue-chip status in 2008 by delivering another set of excellent results, somewhat ahead of market expectations. Its formidable top management duo of CEO Graham MacKay and finance director Malcolm Wyman obviously took great pride in presenting a strong set of results against an inhospitable background, characterised by rising input and packaging costs.

As correctly predicted in last year's Top Companies, SABMiller's Latin American interests eclipsed those from SA in profit contribution this year. It seems likely that its European interests will soon also overtake SAB Ltd as the second-largest profit contributor.

Locally, the guys at SAB were kept on their toes by Heineken's decision to take back the Amstel brewing and distribution licence. It took a few months for Amstel to get back into SA after SAB's breweries were instructed to cease production immediately. In that time SAB launched a completely new brand called Hansa Marzen Gold. It quickly went from zero to hero, achieving a hitherto unheard of initial volume of 600 000 hectolitres (1 hectolitre =100 litres) in its first year. Castle Lite became the biggest premium beer in SAB's stable, and even mainstream brands like Castle and Hansa improved volumes in the vacuum created by Amstel's nonavailability.

But Heineken has given notice that it will soon have a 3m/hl litre brewery (capable of supplying more than 10% of the present SA market) in Gauteng to brew both Amstel and Heineken.

2008 was also the year in which SABMiller became the world's largest brewer in terms of volume. But it may not be in that position for much longer, if the long-awaited merger between Inbev and Anheuser-Busch happens.

The biggest listed food share on the JSE, Tiger Brands, had its own version of annus horribilis. Tiger is a corporate brand that's been around for decades and is regarded as one of the bluest chips on the JSE.

But during 2007, it faced the wrath of the competition authorities amid allegations that it had colluded with other suppliers to fix the price of bread. This would be bad enough in a developed country, but in SA, where bread has always been a sensitive political issue, it was catastrophic. The company agreed to pay a R98m fine.

CEO Nick Dennis survivied the row for a few weeks but eventually fell on his sword. It was a sad end to an otherwise illustrious career, during which Dennis took Tiger to the point where it could genuinely compete head-on with multinational food majors in SA. One of his greatest successes was extracting efficiencies through innovation.

Successor Peter Matlare had a baptism of fire, having to cope with further allegations of corruption in the group, this time in the critical care division of subsidiary Adcock Ingram.

In 2008 Pioneer Foods was listed on the JSE. Pioneer had also been facing allegations of price fixing on bread, but refused to admit complicity.