The man who awakened South Africa’s 134-year-old cement giant will finish the job

PPC CEO Matias Cardarelli has agreed to extend his contract with the company to 31 March 2030. 

The chief exec has also accepted an award of 10 million PPC shares, valued at R66.3 million, for his work in turning the struggling cement giant around.

Since taking the helm at PPC in December 2023, Cardarelli has played a pivotal role in the 134-year-old company’s turnaround.

Launched in 2025, the ‘Awaken the Giant’ turnaround strategy has seen PPC go from a struggling, loss-making cement producer to a profitable company with strong growth prospects.

In announcing Cardarelli’s contract extension on Thursday, 27 August, PPC attributed much of this success to him.

“Since Mr Cardarelli’s appointment, PPC has been fundamentally repositioned,” the group said.

“The group has delivered consecutive step-changes in earnings, margins, cash generation and returns on invested capital.”

In addition, PPC’s market share has more than doubled since Carderelli took the helm, with the company’s share price up 164% since December 2023.

“This has been achieved without any improvement in the South African operating environment and is the outcome of strategic clarity, operational performance improvement, and cost and capital discipline,” PPC said.

With his contract extended, Cardarelli will spend the next four years implementing the second half of PPC’s turnaround strategy, which will focus on the company’s future sustainable growth.

PPC explained that the value Cardarelli and the Awaken the Giant strategy has delivered to date has come largely from a significant change in the way the business is run.

This included a reset of culture, cost, and commercial discipline. 

Now, the company said the larger part of the opportunity lies ahead: the completion and commissioning of the new state-of-the-art integrated cement plant in the Western Cape (RK3).

This R3.1 billion plant will be one of the most tangible parts of Cardarelli’s legacy at PPC, and is expected to take the cement producer to the next level.

This project is designed to secure PPC’s cost competitiveness by materially reducing its costs and enhancing value accretion.

It will also further reduce the company’s reliance on broader growth in South Africa’s struggling construction sector.

PPC said this plant is the next step-change in the company’s performance, with benefits expected to start filtering through in the 2028 financial year.

Cardarelli’s reward

In the meantime, Cardarelli and PPC will continue to focus on the operational improvement of its South African plants and the optimisation and growth initiatives available in Zimbabwe. 

“Realising this value depends on sustained and consistent execution. The board, therefore, regards continuity of leadership as a material driver of shareholder value,” it said.

This is why, the company said, it has structured Cardarelli’s contract extension and aligned his tenure and personal shareholding with the delivery of the group’s strategic plan, in full.

To this end, PPC granted Cardarelli an award of 10 million ordinary shares in the company. When acquired, the shares were valued at R66.3 million.

The award is subject to his continued employment and to disposal restrictions, with the retention shares set to vest on 31 March 2030.

“Matias has done what he undertook to do. He set out an honest diagnosis of this business, defined a clear plan, and executed it with discipline,” PPC chair Jabu Moleketi said. 

“PPC today is a structurally stronger, more competitive, and a more valuable company than the one he inherited. But we are halfway, not finished.” 

Moleketi said the initiatives currently underway will define PPC for the next decades and position it for the future. 

“The board is firmly of the view that continuity of leadership through this phase is in the best interests of the company and shareholders,” he said.

He added that the right person to complete this turnaround is the person who started it.

Cardarelli said the past 32 months have demonstrated what PPC can deliver with an experienced team, a well-defined strategy, and a healthy and transparent organisational culture. 

“What excites me most, however, is what is still ahead of us rather than what has already been achieved,” he said. 

“I am committed to seeing the ‘Awaken the Giant’ strategy through to completion, alongside a team I believe in. I appreciate the continued confidence of the board and our shareholders.”