By Janice Kew
(Bloomberg) – Tiger Brands Chief Executive Officer Lawrence MacDougall will retire this week, leaving Africa’s biggest packaged-food company still battling the fallout of a deadly outbreak of listeriosis linked to one of its factories.
MacDougall, 63, joined the Johannesburg-based maker of Tastic rice and Albany bread from Cadbury chocolate maker Mondelez International almost four years ago, giving an immediate boost to the share price. But the company was engulfed in scandal the following year as authorities battled to contain the disease, which was declared the world’s worst case on record with more than 200 dead.
The stock has declined almost 31% since MacDougall took the helm in May 2016, compared with a 9.9% rise on the FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index.
The outgoing CEO has reached Tiger Brand’s “mandatory retirement age,” the food maker said in a statement on Wednesday. Chief Financial Officer Noel Doyle will take over the role from February 1.
Tiger Brands reported a 20% decline in operating income in the year through September, as the South African consumer environment remained weak and costs rose ahead of price inflation.
“It’s been made clear that the market has been wanting a change at this level,” Tinashe Kambadza, an equity analyst at Afrifocus Securities in Johannesburg, said by phone. “But we’ll have to wait and see how different Doyle’s approach will be.”
Tiger Brands became involved in the listeriosis crisis in early 2018 when the outbreak was linked to a factory in South Africa’s northeastern city of Polokwane owned by its Enterprise unit, which makes processed meat that’s popular in lower income households. The company is still to face a class-action lawsuit brought by families of the victims, and has said no liability has been established against the group.
The stock rose for a second day, gaining 1.2% to R212.50 as of 11:32am in Johannesburg, paring a 12-month decline to 16%.
