Angelo Swartz, who has been appointed the CEO of Spar from October 1, has his work cut out to turn around the fortunes of the retailer amid tough competition from the likes of Checkers as he eyes modernising the business.
Swartz would take over from Mike Bosman, who became an executive chair of Spar in February after its former CEO Brett Botten’s retirement in January after only two years in that position, Spar said in a statement on Friday.
Spar said Swartz was highly respected in the Spar Group, with a deep knowledge of the South African market, having been with the company for 16 years and at Woolworths before that.
"He is currently the divisional managing director of the second largest Spar division in Southern Africa, the Spar KwaZulu-Natal division. In addition to his role as CEO, Swartz will also take up the role of chairman of the Spar Guild on September 1, 2023," the group said.
In June, Spar’s debt woes were in the spotlight after it posted its interims and said it had breached debt covenants with banks due to the weakening of the rand and translation of foreign debt into reporting South African currency.
For the six months ended March 31, 2023, the group said diluted headline earnings per share declined by 30.2% to 447.7 cents as it reported lower sales in South Africa and Switzerland. Turnover for the group increased by 7.9% to R72.9 billion.
At the time, Bosman said the projections and forecasts of the company had suggested that it would still be constrained in September unless there had been a dramatic turnaround in the working capital.
Swartz said: “It is a privilege and an honour to be appointed the group CEO of Spar. I am grateful to the board for their confidence in me to lead the group.
"Spar is a business founded on strong relationships and an entrepreneurial spirit, and I look forward to embracing the spirit of both as I get to know all of our stakeholders. Many thanks to Mike for his leadership and custodianship of the business over the past six months.
"I believe my operational experience, deep knowledge, and understanding of the Spar culture, coupled with fresh outside perspectives, will position Spar well, on our path to modernise the business. I look forward to guiding the business through this next phase of its growth," he said.
According to the group, Bosman will revert to being the independent non-executive chairman of the board, effective from October.
"He will also continue to serve as independent non-executive chairman on Spar’s major foreign subsidiary boards," it said.
The group said Bosman would work closely alongside Swartz to ensure a seamless transition for Swartz in his new role as CEO.
The group also announced the appointment of Megan Pydigadu to the new role of group chief operating officer and executive director of the board with effect from November 1, 2023.
Bosman said: “I am delighted to be handing over the reins to Angelo, a proudly South African leader with deep experience in the local retail industry. Having conducted a long and thorough search process involving many South African and international candidates, the board has no doubt that Angelo is the right person to lead Spar.”
Swartz has a huge task ahead of him to steer the company to certainty. The retirement of Botten came when the company faced allegations from independent retailers who use the Spar brand that it engaged in “fictitious” and “fraudulent” loans, as well as racial bias.
In December, Spar denied the financial allegations were symptomatic of “dodgy” accounting or that it discriminated against some of its retailers based on race or store location.
The group made headlines when an independent investigation reported that fictitious loans had been signed off within the group, while other corporate governance concerns were raised about Graham O'Connor being appointed chair in March 2021, just one month after he retired as CEO.
The share price closed unchanged on Friday.
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