Spar CFO Mark Godfrey to retire at end of 2024

Spar’s chief financial officer, Mark Godfrey, is to retire, the company said on Wednesday. Godfrey will retire as group CFO and as an executive director with effect from December 31, Spar said in a statement.

The board extended its gratitude to Godfrey for his contributions to the group during his 29-year tenure, particularly acknowledging him for “the many years of financial oversight of the business and his support to the board and group during the recent challenges faced by the various businesses”.

The company will start the process of finding a suitable replacement in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile shares in Spar jumped 10% on Wednesday after the group announced it had reached a significant milestone and signed key salient terms with a third party, in respect of the disposal of its Polish operations.

In an announcement, it said the interested party had expressed its commitment to continue operating the Spar brand in Poland.

At 10.55am on the JSE, Spar’s shares were up 10% at R108.90.

The ongoing negotiations, if successfully concluded, may have a material effect on the price of the company’s securities, it said.

Earlier on Wednesday Spar said its continuing operations had reported lower profits for the first half as the unsuccessful IT rollout at its KwaZulu-Natal distribution centre and high interest rates ate into earnings.

Turnover for the six months ended March for continuing operations consisting of Southern Africa, Ireland, Southwest England and Switzerland increased by 7.9% to R77.2bn, while profit before tax was 11.2% lower at R1.15bn.

Headline earnings per share were 7.6% lower at 465c. No interim dividend was declared.

Spar said all regions had experienced inflationary cost pressures and prolonged higher interest rates. That, coupled with the hangover of system issues in SA, had affected the results for the first half.

MackenzieJ@arena.africa