| 1891 | | Reynolds Brothers Limited is listed as a public company and Charles George Smith appointed as its agent in Durban; |
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| 1893 | | CG Smith, entrepreneur and sugar agent, becomes a shareholder in Reynolds Brothers; |
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| 1904 | | CG Smith and associates buy the Umzimkulu mill and estates; |
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| 1915 | | Reynolds Brothers opens the Sezela mill; and The Natal Cane By-Products Limited (now Illovo Merebank) is listed as a public company; |
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| 1952 | | Reynolds Brothers moves the Esperanza mill to Pongola; |
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| 1975 | | The sugar-related assets of CG Smith & Company, together with the Gledhow Sugar Company, are amalgamated with Reynolds Brothers into a single new entity under the name of CG Smith Sugar Limited; |
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| 1977 | | CG Smith Sugar acquires the Illovo and Noodsberg sugar mills and estates from Tate & Lyle; |
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| 1991 | | The company celebrates its Centenary year; |
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| 1992 | | CG Smith Sugar is listed on The Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and the company acquires the Umfolozi sugar mill; |
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| 1994 | | The company name is changed to Illovo Sugar Limited to identify with the Illovo brand of sugars and syrups; |
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| 1995 | | As a purely South African sugar company with five agricultural estates and seven factories, Illovo cultivates around one million tons of sugar cane and produces an equal amount of sugar. Turnover amounts to R1.6 billion and the share price trades at R6.70 (year-end); |
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| 1996 | | Illovo acquires a 50% stake in Maragra Açúcar SA in Mozambique; |
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| 1997 | | Illovo acquires Lonrho Sugar Corporation Limited, with sugar assets in Malawi, Swaziland, Mauritius and South Africa; |
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| 1998 | | Illovo acquires a 55% stake in Kilombero Sugar Company in Tanzania; |
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| 1999 | | The company acquires Monitor Sugar Company in the United States; |
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| 2001 | | Illovo sells its Mauritian interests and acquires a controlling interest in Zambia Sugar Plc; |
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| 2004 | | The Gledhow sugar mill and estates are sold to a Black economic empowerment company; and the company sells its interests in Monitor Sugar Company; |
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| 2006 | | Associated British Foods plc, a company listed on the London Stock Exchange, acquires a 51% controlling stake in Illovo; |
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| 2009 | | A major expansion of the Zambia Sugar operation is completed, as planned, on 1 April 2009, increasing annual cane production by 50%, and sugar production capacity to
450 000 tons; and
Illovo sells its Umfolozi and Pongola sugar mills and acquires a 30% shareholding in and provides technical services to Gledhow Sugar, previously wholly-owned by Ushukela Milling (Pty) Limited; and
Illovo undertakes a successful rights issue to raise R3 billion in support of the group’s drive to increase significantly its cane and sugar production capacity. US$50 million is raised in a rights issue undertaken by Zambia Sugar to fund the acquisition of a large cane growing company, Nanga Farms, and its own capacity expansion project. |
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| 2010 | | The South African business is re-structured and its relevant assets transferred into a wholly-owned subsidiary, Illovo Sugar (South Africa) Limited;
Illovo increases to 90% its shareholding in Maragra Açúcar SA in Mozambique.
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| 2011 | | A major factory expansion and co-generation project is commissioned at Ubombo in Swaziland; |
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| Today, Illovo is Africa’s largest sugar producer and has extensive agricultural and manufacturing assets in six Southern African countries, producing more than six million tons of cane and milling capacity to produce two million tons of sugar per annum. Revenue amounts to R8.1 billion and the share price trades at R26.85 (year-end). |