{"id":6675,"date":"2026-06-10T21:53:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T21:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=6675"},"modified":"2026-06-10T21:53:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T21:53:16","slug":"spar-ceo-we-got-distracted-now-its-back-to-basics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=6675","title":{"rendered":"Spar CEO: \u2018We got distracted \u2013 now it\u2019s back to basics\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"textFreeArticle\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/iframe.iono.fm\/e\/1684787?layout=modern\" width=\"100%\" height=\"170\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JIMMY MOYAHA:<\/strong> The Spar Group released its interim results for the first six months of its new financial year.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re going to be looking at these results in a bit more detail with the chief executive officer at the Spar group, Reeza Isaacs. He joins me on the line now to see if we can make sense of that performance.<\/p>\n<p>Read: Spar CEO confronts \u2018execution problems\u2019 as profits tumble<\/p>\n<p>Mr\u00a0Isaacs, lovely having you on the show. Thanks so much for taking the time. Congratulations are in order. You and I have not had the privilege of speaking since you\u2019ve assumed the role. I imagine it was a bit of an unexpected turn of events with the change of leadership \u2013 but congratulations, nonetheless.<\/p>\n<p>On the numbers side, how have you and the team found the first six months of the year?<\/p>\n<p><strong>REEZA ISAACS:<\/strong> Jimmy, firstly, thank you for having me on the show and thank you for the congratulations. It certainly wasn\u2019t on the bingo card for 2026. But here we are. These have been quite some 90 days.<\/p>\n<p>Read:<br \/>Shock Spar CEO resignation<br \/>Why I stepped down as Spar CEO \u2013 Swartz<br \/>Spar chair Mike Bosman shares inside story of shock CEO departure<br \/>Coup as Spar lands ex-Pick n Pay boss<\/p>\n<p>But just back to your question, the first half has been tough, there\u2019s no there\u2019s no doubt about it. Headline earnings down 50%, 55%, 54%, and SA margin at circa 1%.<\/p>\n<p>There are a few bright spots in there, in our Irish performance [and] working capital management. And we managed the sale of AWG, which was our UK business and this [was the] last part of the European cleanup.<\/p>\n<p>So the portfolio is focused on SA and Ireland, but we\u2019ve got, let\u2019s just say, foundational work to do in in the groceries and liquor business in South Africa.<\/p>\n<div class=\"visible-sm-block visible-xs-block m1010\">\n<div class=\"ad-container-wrapper\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>JIMMY MOYAHA:<\/strong> Reeza, can we take a look at that cleanup? Obviously this predates your term as chief executive. I remember catching up with your predecessor, Angelo Swartz, around the exit from Europe, the exit from Poland, from the UK, from Ireland \u2013 as you mentioned.<\/p>\n<p>Take us through from a strategy perspective where you now sit, coming into the role, having to manage partly the cleanup, but also charting a new way forward, effectively, for the Spar Group.<\/p>\n<p><strong>REEZA ISAACS:<\/strong> Just to be clear, we haven\u2019t exited Ireland. We\u2019ve exited Poland, Switzerland and the UK business. So Ireland remains very much part of the portfolio; currently in the past six months under difficult trading conditions it still managed to grow the top line and deliver a 3% margin.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>So it\u2019s a great business with a great team. It\u2019s certainly not our intention to exit that business. Our focus is entirely on Ireland and South Africa currently.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>We\u2019ve got a JV [joint venture] interest in Sri Lanka, but that\u2019s very small at the moment and it consumes no management time and no capital. We are supporting growing that business in a country where 20% of food retail is formalised.<\/p>\n<p>Read\/listen:<br \/>Spar\u2019s Poland misadventure: Spend \u20ac1 to lose R4.2bn<br \/>After Polish misadventure, Spar pays R683m to exit Switzerland<br \/>Bloody nose for Spar as Europe write-offs top R7.5bn<br \/>Spar\u2019s European flop is now a thing of the past<\/p>\n<p>But otherwise the focus is entirely on South Africa with an outside focus on the groceries and liquor business.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JIMMY MOYAHA:<\/strong> Reeza, I want to get your thoughts on the stabilisation efforts from a business perspective. Obviously the KZN stabilisation programme is essential towards turning the business in the right direction.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside that, there is obviously the business looking, as you mentioned, at the joint ventures and your overall growth strategies \u2013 the wholesale business and the wholesale focus coming into the next chapter of the business.<\/p>\n<p>Take us through how those moving parts are shaping your six months. And, while we\u2019re looking at that, I want to look at perhaps something more in line with your personal journey, having to navigate leading a business that is predominately in KZN. You were based in the Western Cape at one point.<\/p>\n<p>How are you seeing the South African dynamic as a whole, having worked across the country?<\/p>\n<p><strong>REEZA ISAACS:<\/strong> In terms of the SA business and actually the group as a whole, I think one of my first tasks was to stabilise the leadership team and the management team.<\/p>\n<div class=\"visible-sm-block visible-xs-block m1010\">\n<div class=\"ad-container-wrapper\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n<p>CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I\u2019m a firm believer in the right people in the right place and empowering them \u2013 but holding them accountable for delivery.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>So the big appointments we made were Megan Pydigadu, who was a very experienced CFO, who was COO at Spar and has moved back into the CFO role, taken over from me. She doesn\u2019t just bring the CFO experience; she brings turnaround experience to the group.<\/p>\n<p>We appointed Jerome Jacobs, a very experienced Spar person with 30 years in the business, MD of the North Rand division, into the role of Grocery and Liquor Managing Director. He is firmly based in KZN \u2013 that was something that we were missing. We didn\u2019t replace Max Oliver when he left.<\/p>\n<p>And then we appointed a new CMO [chief marketing officer] in John Bradshaw.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Obviously marketing, promotions and brand are very important for Spar. We spend a huge amount on that, and we have an opportunity to reposition the brand, get the maximum out of our marketing expenses and support the retailers with growth.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>As far as the SA dynamics and me being based in Cape Town, it\u2019s really about the team. We are a decentralised business. We have six big centres that we operate out of \u2013 three inland and three coastal.<\/p>\n<p>We also have the Irish business, we have the Sri\u00a0Lankan business, and we have teams around the country. So we operate from wherever we are needed. I do lots of travel. I\u2019ve been to Ireland; I\u2019ve spent a bit of time in Johannesburg. I\u2019ve spent an outsized amount of time in KZN \u2013 and so has the team.<\/p>\n<p>But I think the key is that the grocery and liquor team have a leader that is based in KZN, and that is absolutely the case.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JIMMY MOYAHA:<\/strong> Reeza, before I let you go, I want to get your thoughts on what for you seems to be the biggest challenge confronting the Spar group at the moment. Obviously restructuring is never easy, and rebuilding and resetting are never easy, especially with a business the size of the Spar group.<\/p>\n<p>What do you feel could potentially be the biggest challenge for the group at the moment?<\/p>\n<p><strong>REEZA ISAACS: <\/strong>The business is a special business. I have to say I\u2019ve come to appreciate this business more and more.<\/p>\n<div class=\"visible-sm-block visible-xs-block m1010\">\n<div class=\"ad-container-wrapper\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n<p>CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>It is a business that, in a way, is very simple. It needs to have operational excellence. It needs to buy smartly. It needs to warehouse goods, it needs to distribute efficiently, and it needs to manage a brand and do effective marketing.<\/p>\n<p>And in so doing, it needs to support the retailers. We are the second-biggest grocery business at retail in southern Africa. We operate out of six countries in southern Africa.<\/p>\n<p>The model is suited to South Africa with diverse communities, with informal retail, with independent retail \u2013 and a one-size-fits all retail chain doesn\u2019t necessarily achieve that.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I absolutely believe in the model.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>I think for us it is basically \u2013 and this may sound clich\u00e9 \u2013 that we need to get back to basics, we need to get back to being the best at what we do and focus on the basics. I think we\u2019ve been distracted by our international expansion.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve been distracted by the SAP [software] implementation that didn\u2019t go according to plan. We spent a lot of money on that, and it has created balance-sheet and other challenges for us which have taken up an inordinate amount of management attention.<\/p>\n<p>Read\/listen:<br \/>SAP rollout bungle costs Spar R1.6bn<br \/>Spar still not over SAP hurdle<\/p>\n<p>So we need to get back to what we do best, and that\u2019s being the best wholesaler that can support our retailers and independent retail in the country.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JIMMY MOYAHA:<\/strong> Getting back to basics and ensuring that the business resets the fundamentals that need to be reset if the success of the business is to be attained.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll leave the conversation on that note. We wish all of the very best, Reeza, to you and the team as you turn the business back on the right track.<\/p>\n<p>Chief executive officer at the Spar Group, Reeza Isaacs, joined us to look at the first six months of the year, and what it is that they\u2019re doing as a business.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>#Spar #CEO #distracted #basics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here. JIMMY MOYAHA: The Spar Group released its interim results for the first six months of its new financial year. We\u2019re&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[9093,369,9092,7956],"class_list":["post-6675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing","tag-basics","tag-ceo","tag-distracted","tag-spar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}