One of the country’s leading food processing companies, National Foods Limited Group, has paid US$188 977 in dividends to its qualifying non-managerial employees.
Company history, National Foods was established in 1920 and produces a broad range of basic foods including maize meal, flour, cooking oil, margarine, rice, salt, snacks, biscuits, pasta, sugar beans, baked beans, popcorn, as well as soap and a full range of animal feed.
Recently, a maize based cereal has been added to the National Foods product portfolio.
The company’s iconic and home-grown brands Red Seal, Pearlenta, Gloria, Mahatma, Better Buy, National Foods Stockfeeds, Iris, Zapnax, KING and most recently Allegros Popticorn are loved across the length and breadth of Zimbabwe. Gloria and Red Seal have been trusted and esteemed brands in Zimbabwe for over 100 years.
The Company has 2 major shareholders: Innscor Africa Limited 37,45% and Tiger Brands 37,45%. The National Foods Workers Trust, which was established in 1985 by way of a Donation, also owns 9.85% of the company.
The beneficiaries of the Trust are the National Foods Ltd non-managerial employees. The company is listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.
National Foods has manufacturing sites in Harare, Bulawayo and Mutare from which it distributes its products throughout Zimbabwe. Our people work passionately to add value to the lives of our customers and consumers through our products; striving to continuously improve our existing products as well as progressively adding new categories to our portfolio.
The National Foods story is one of how two families, the Harris and the Palte formed two separate businesses and then merged them half a century later to create one company. Mark Harris and J Palte had a close association as Mark had worked for J Palte in 1915 in Bulawayo.
This first entrepreneurial venture was not successful as they dissolved their partnership three months later. National Foods corporate roots can be traced back to when the British South Africa Company (BSA Co) bought into the Mark Harris Manufacturing Co on the 1st of July in 1920.
Joseph Palte founded J Palte Company in Bulawayo in 1908, trading as a produce merchant and a miller. His son Jack Palte joined his father’s business and then took over running the company in 1934 when his father passed on. In 1949, Jack Palte sold a stake of the business to Tiger Oats and it became the major shareholder.
This was the beginning of the long, rich partnership that has developed and still exists between Tiger and National Foods.
Mark Harris set up Mark Harris Manufacturing in 1915 and in the years that followed, he established the first roller maize and flour mills in the country operating as the Atlas Mills. This is where the ‘Atlas’ brand was born.
In 1920, he sold a stake of his company to the British South Africa Co and together they extended their product lines and expanded into both Salisbury and Bulawayo. The Gloria Flour was launched in the same year in 1920.
In 1924, Mark Harris sold the balance of his stake to BSA Co and was given a three year restraint of trade. Upon his departure, the BSAC renamed the group, the Rhodesian Milling and Manufacturing Company (RMMC) in May of the same year. In June of 1925, RMMC sold a stake of the company to Spillers.
When his restraint of trade lapsed, Mark Harris joined his brother Cessey at C Harris & Co and they launched their first flour product in 1925 under the Red Seal brand. The brothers then formed Harris Bros & Co in 1928.
Their company, dealt in maize and wheat flour milling, stockfeeds, grain and general produce.
In November of 1956, the Rhodesia Milling and Manufacturing Co acquired Harris Bros and Co. This was the second time within half a century that Harris’ company was taken over by the same company and the brothers were excluded from flour trade for the next ten years.
The restraint of trade did not include maize hence; the brothers re-established themselves as Harris Maize Milling & Produce Co dealing in maize milling. In July of 1958, the Rhodesian Milling and Manufacturing Company dropped ‘Manufacturing’ from its name to become the Rhodesia Milling Company (RMC).
In March of 1964, J Palte & Co, Harris Maize Milling & Produce Co, and Meadow Milling, a Tiger Oats entity merged to form Palte-Harris. The Rhodesian Milling Company was then absorbed by Anglo American in 1965.
Palte-Harris later changed its name to Palte-Harris Industrial Holdings (PHIH) in June of 1969 ahead of its listing on Rhodesia Stock Exchange in 1970.
In mid-1975, Palte-Harris merged with the Rhodesian Milling Co to form National Foods on the 1st of June 1975 bringing together the Gloria and Red Seal brands.
When National Foods was established, Spillers owned 25% and Tiger Oats owned a 16.1% stake of the business. Spillers was acquired by Dalgety PLC in 1979 which then sold its stake to Astra Foods in the 1980s. In 1984, the National Foods Workers Trust was formed. The Trust applies funds from dividends for the benefit of workers and their dependants in the fields of educational advancement, improvements in housing standards and general social welfare.
This was the first workers trust to be established in the country and still exists today. The Workers Trust owns almost 10% of National Foods today.
In 1994 Astra Foods sold its stake to Anglo American and Tiger Oats, thereby increasing their shareholding in National Foods to 43% and 19.43%, respectively. Tiger Oats renamed its company to Tiger Brands in 1999.
In 2003, Innscor Africa became a shareholder of National Foods by buying a 35.74% stake of the company, and Tiger Brands increased its stake to 29.92% from 19.43% in the same year.
In 2007, Innscor Africa became the majority shareholder of National Foods with a stake of 49.9% after buying out Anglo American. In 2011, Innscor Africa reduced its stake from 49.9% to 37.73%, while Tiger Brands increased to 37.45%.
Today, Innscor Africa and Tiger Brands together with the Workers Trust form part of the top three shareholders and collectively own 85% of the business.
-National Foods website
