Monday, November 15, 2010 – Clover Beverages, a subsidiary of Clover Industries Ltd, has won the Chartered Secretaries’ and JSE Annual Award for Company Reporting in the Non-Listed category.

Commenting on winning the prestigious award, Dr Chris Lerm, Clover Beverages’ Chief Operating Officer, said Clover Beverages was “delighted” and “honoured” to win the award amid tough competition from some excellent companies. “We are very much in the spotlight with our parent company’s intention to list on the JSE in early 2011– one of the most significant events in our 112-year history,” said Lerm.

“Winning this award further bolsters our standing in the eyes of our peers and consumers alike.” Lerm added that like all companies, the ongoing recession has caused Clover Beverages to “examine our practices in general and to heed consumer demand for attention to green issues and less wastage.” Lerm added that Clover Beverages’ vision is “reaching every consumer with our most admired and trusted products” and being a “responsible corporate citizen.”

He stressed that Clover Beverages’ annual reporting is extremely comprehensive and exhaustive, but the company sees it as its duty to be accurate, accountable and transparent, especially as it also has minority shareholders. “Every year, Clover Beverages commits extensive resources to its annual reporting and sets high standards for good governance and best practice,” said Lerm.

The core Clover brand is one of just 17 Platinum Iconic brands and works hard to maintain the respect of the public and peers. In the Sunday Times 2010 Top Brands Survey, Clover Beverages’ brands, Tropika and Clover Krush, were amongst the top three brands, while in a “Generation Next” youth brand survey conducted by the Sunday Times, Clover Beverages had three of the top six brands, indicating support from the youth market.

“In view of the upcoming listing of our parent company, Clover Beverages has scrutinized every inch of its operations for sustainability, best practice and cutting down on wastage (our Cielo Blu supply chain project, for instance). The Clover Goes Green sustainable environmental drive kicked off earlier this year (the theme of our 2010 annual report) and will be further rolled out next year,” added Lerm.

Lerm said Clover is “immensely proud” of its highly successful Corporate Social Investment programme entitled Mama Afrika, an upliftment project for the poorest of the poor. Since its inception in 2004, it has focused purely on sustainability. On 28 October, Clover Mama Afrika won the Mail & Guardian Investing In The Future Driver of Change Corporate 2010 Award for this project. “We also run an annual AIDS awareness campaign internally, and, as part of Clover Goes Green, an ongoing initiative called Clover Clean Up, in which our staff cleans up the areas and communities surrounding their premises,” said Lerm.