Spar is running out of time

Spar does not have much time to repair relations with its Guild members, and appointing a strong chairman could mean winning half the battle.

This is the view of Anchor Capital investment analyst Stephan Erasmus, who told The Money Show that restoring trust with its independent retailers should be a top priority for Spar.

He explained that the Spar Guild, which represents the group’s independent retailers, has started to lose trust in the company’s management.

This lack of trust was put on display in August 2026, when long-time Spar chairman Mike Bosman stepped down from his position.

This came after Spar’s independent retailers petitioned its board to remove Bosman and his deputy chair, Shirley Zinn.

Initially, the board refused, but on 17 August, it announced that Bosman and Zinn had resigned with immediate effect.

When their resignations were announced, Spar said it was “the right decision for them and in the best interest of the company”.

Since then, Spar has yet to fill the chairman role with a permanent appointment, with Lwazi Koyana currently serving as interim chair.

On Monday, 28 September, Spar announced that its Nominations Committee has appointed an independent search firm to support the recruitment process for the chairman position.

Spar said it will aim to finalise the appointment by early November 2026.

Erasmus said picking the right chairman to lead the board and Spar’s ongoing turnaround would be a good step towards repairing the Guild’s trust.

“I think that was one of the main bugbears of the Guild: the amount of retail experience on the previous Spar board,” he said.

Now, he said, the company will need to appoint someone with real retail experience to satisfy the Guild.

“In my personal view, if you can get a situation where the Guild is happy with the chair appointment, that’s probably half the battle won,” he said.

While many challenges remain in Spar’s operations, this could be an easy win for Spar as it works towards a turnaround.

“I just think they’ve been struggling for so long to scrum in the same direction, from both sides, that it’s key that they sort that out upfront,” he said.

Spar’s new chairman

Erasmus said one of the main criteria for the new Spar chairman should be extensive retail experience.

In addition, it would need to be someone willing to be hands-on and intimately familiar with the company’s day-to-day operations.

“I think it does take an extremely strong chairperson leading the charge and having the real retail experience to go along with that,” Erasmus said.

The new chairperson would not only be charged with overseeing Spar’s operational turnaround, but also with realigning the retailer with the Guild.

“I think the Spar Guild and the board are taking it quite seriously and looking at different candidates,” Erasmus said.

“Ultimately, it’s a very important decision and, in my view, it’s probably going to sort out a lot of the issues, and then thereafter it’s a question of fixing operational things and relationships.”

Spar has said that it will assess candidates against a defined criteria and skills matrix, with particular focus on retail, remuneration, financial, and governance experience.

While no official decision has been made yet, it has been rumoured that South African businessman Phil Roux is being eyed to take over as Spar chairman.

The former Nampak CEO has 32 years of experience in South Africa’s fast-moving consumer goods sector, having held roles at Tiger Brands, Oceana, Langeberg, and Ashton Foods.

Roux is also considered by many to be a turnaround specialist due to his tenure as the CEO of Adcorp, Pioneer Foods, and Nampak.

At Pioneer Foods, Roux took over during a time when the company was plagued by an anti-competitive price-fixing scandal and regulatory fines.

During his time at the helm, Roux led a comprehensive restructuring that streamlined the company’s brand portfolios, cut non-core assets, and restored its profitability.

This improved the company to the point that it became an attractive target for global food and beverage giant PepsiCo, which bought Pioneer Foods in 2020 for R26 billion.

Similarly, during Roux’s time as Nampak CEO, which spanned only two years, he led an aggressive turnaround involving debt refinancing, asset disposals, and operational right-sizing.

At Adcorp, Roux was tasked with overseeing a short-term, targeted turnaround to stabilise the group. 

While he was only CEO for one year, Roux managed to take Adcorp from a position of mounting debt, underperforming units, and major inefficiencies to a stable business.

In his short time at the helm, he restructured the board, closed or divested from non-viable operations, and stabilised Adcorp’s core South African business.