The Spar Group said yesterday that it had taken steps to recruit a successor to its former CEO Brett Botten, and was confident that this could be achieved within three months.
In a statement, the group said in the interim, until the new CEO takes up his/her role, non-executive chairman Mike Bosman would be taking on an executive role as executive chairman of the group from February 1, 2023.
The group said the board was of the view that the move would bring stability to stakeholders.
According to the retailer, in an effort to strengthen its corporate governance as it tries to find its next CEO, its board has put in place additional processes, including setting up a chairman’s committee led by Andrew Waller, its lead independent director and chair of its audit committee.
“The other members of the chairman’s committee are the chairs of the nominations, risk, remuneration, and social, ethics, and sustainability committees. The chairman’s committee will interact regularly with Bosman to ensure continued high standards of governance,” Spar said.
The group said once the new CEO takes up his/her role, Bosman would return to the position of independent non-executive chairman of the board.
Bosman, who is also the chair of Spur, was appointed Spar chair on December 15, after Graham O’Connor resigned. A month later, the retailer’s CEO Botten announced his retirement.
Botten's retirement came amid a board shake-up and as the company was rocked by reports of fictitious loans to retailers and questions about the group’s corporate governance.
Earlier this month, the Spar Group informed its shareholders that only three of its loans, valued at R11 million, offered to retailers five years ago, had been irregular, and they were isolated.
The admission came after various publications reported that Spar had offered two fictitious loans to retailers, but that it had repaid the loan through a marketing subsidy, which amounts to irregular accounting.
At the time, the group said its auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), notified the company that they believed one loan to be a reportable irregularity, which required PwC to report the matter to the Independent Regulatory Board of Auditors (IRBA).
“The board of directors then engaged a legal team with an accounting expert to fully investigate and provide the board with their professional opinions. Over the past month, Spar and the external auditors conducted investigations into the matter.
On allegations of discrimination against certain retailers, Spar said it would like to reiterate its deep regret over the allegations of discrimination.
“According to the findings of the investigation by law firm Harris Nupen Molebatsi, the allegations of discrimination towards any retailers were unfounded,” the company said.
By 4.30pm its shares on the JSE were up 1.3% to R136.90.
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