Two Centuries in the baking: Inside Premier FMCG’s Rebuild
Building Conviction Ep 4
Two weeks into the CFO job, Kobus Gertenbach had to phone his shareholder and tell them he couldn’t make payroll. Today he runs the Premier Group as CEO. In the fourth episode of Peregrine Capital’s Building Conviction podcast, he tells the story of how a written-off business was rebuilt.
“Guys, you need to put 300 million rand on standby, I can’t make payroll at the end of the month.”
That was the call Gertenbach made to Brait in July 2011. Premier, the 200-year-old company behind Blue Ribbon, Snowflake and Iwisa, had been delisted, was losing hundreds of millions of rand a year, and had largely been written off.
What followed is, in the words of the episode’s introduction, “one of the great rebuilds in South African business”. Gertenbach lived it from every seat: on the Brait team that bought the business, a decade as CFO, and CEO since 2021. He sits down with host Jacques Conradie, CEO of Peregrine Capital, and co-host AJ Snyman, Investment Analyst at Peregrine Capital, to share that journey.
Why watch
Few CEOs talk this openly about how close things came. Gertenbach explains how Premier bought itself time in those first months, and why he still compares the CFO in a turnaround to the limo driver in The Bodyguard.
He is just as direct about money. “The biggest creator of long term value of a CEO is his ability to do capital allocation,” he says, and his lessons from Brait on what happens when capital has to be put to work are the heart of the episode for investors.
What you’ll hear
Why a capital investment plan at Premier is rarely right before “Plan 38”
How a 120-second stop at a spaza shop, repeated tens of thousands of times a day, built a moat the critics missed
The walk through a Pretoria warehouse that led to Premier’s first mega-bakery
How Premier is integrating Rhodes Food Group
Why forecasting is a swearword at Premier
The ambition Gertenbach has set himself for the next five years
And how a flight with his son, sitting on a pillow in the pilot’s seat, inspired him to take up flying
Listen or Watch
Building Conviction, Peregrine Capital’s podcast series, is also available on all leading podcast platforms, with new episodes every few weeks.
This podcast is produced by Peregrine Capital (Pty) Ltd, an authorised Financial Services Provider. Views expressed by speakers are their own at the time of recording, may change without notice, and don't necessarily reflect those of Peregrine Capital. Nothing in this podcast is an offer, solicitation or recommendation to buy or sell any security; Peregrine Capital and its associated funds may hold positions in companies discussed, which listeners should bear in mind. Statements on strategy, targets or expected performance are forward-looking, involve risk and uncertainty, and actual results may differ materially. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Listening does not create a client or advisory relationship with Peregrine Capital. This episode was recorded on 12 August 2026.