Tiger Brands CEO gives notice to quit group by end of the year

Corporate News

Mr Peter Matlare, the outgoing Tiger Brands chief executive. PHOTO | FILE 

By DAVID HERBLING

In Summary

• Peter Matlare on Friday announced that he is leaving the company at the end of the year, but did not give reasons for his exit.
• Mr Matlare leaves four months after revealing that the Kenyan subsidiary, Haco Tiger, had falsified operating profits for the full-year ended September 31, 2014 by up to Sh879 million.

Tiger Brands chief executive Peter Matlare is set to leave the South African company, which is majority shareholder of Kenya’s Haco Tiger Brands.

Mr Matlare on Friday announced that he is leaving the company at the end of the year, but did not give reasons for his exit. The company said the process of appointing a new group CEO had started.

He leaves four months after revealing that the Kenyan subsidiary, Haco Tiger, had falsified operating profits for the full-year ended September 31, 2014 by up to Sh879 million.

“The board has agreed that Matlare will remain in his position until December 31 and wish him fulfilment and success as he undertakes new challenges and opportunities,” the company said in a filing to Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE).

The Kenyan firm sacked its managing director Geoffrey Mwathi Kiarie in May following the accusations of cooking books. Mr Matlare was appointed to the group in April 2008.

South Africa’s Tiger Brands bought a 51 per cent stake in Haco Industries from billionaire Kenyan businessman Chris Kirubi in 2008 for an undisclosed amount, leaving him with a 49 per cent stake.

The JSE-listed Tiger Brands revealed that executives at its Kenyan unit altered financial statements and engaged in pre-invoicing to reach their performance targets.

READ: SA’s Tiger Brands says Haco profit figures were cooked

Stock that was yet to be sold was moved to third party warehouses to make it look like performance targets had been met.

Adjusting for this led to a 30 per cent drop in Haco Tiger Brands’ operating profit for the six months to March 2015.

Mr Matlare announced that Tiger would not press charges on the suspected executives, saying the firm “will not engage in a witch-hunt against any of those involved or suspected of involvement in the scandal.”

Mr Kiarie, whose term as Haco Tiger Brands MD was terminated in December, was replaced in an acting capacity by Mr Peter Kang’ethe.

Mr Matlare pointed to the pre-invoicing scandal and foreign exchange losses in Nigeria as the two main reasons why the group registered a three per cent decline in operating income.

“The performance of the group’s Kenyan business was particularly disappointing,” he said. “Haco’s results were negatively affected by the effects of pre-invoicing and the manipulation of profits in the previous financial year. Appropriate corrective action has been implemented,” he said while announcing half-year results in May.

Tiger Brands deals in BIC brand of pens, personal and household care products such as Ace, Jeyes, Miadi, Motions, TCB, Bloo and SoSoft and has over 50 manufacturing facilities across the continent.
 “I am proud of the progress we have made since my appointment.  Our business model is more resilient, we are more disciplined on cost management,” said Mr Matlare in a statement.