JD Group CEO steps down
JD Group, the parent company of Incredible Connection and HiFi Corp, has announced that its CEO, Grattan Kirk has resigned with effect from 20 February.
Kirk had served the group since his appointment as financial director of Connection Group Holdings Limited in 1997.
“Having achieved the significant goals that I set for myself at the start of my term as chief executive officer in June 2008, this is an opportune time for me to move on. I want enough time to still pursue at least one further major career challenge,” Kirk said.
Grattan will continue to assist the retail division of the group and with various other strategic initiatives before he leaves, JD Group said.
David Sussman will assume the role of CEO, while Vusi Khanyile, the current lead independent non-executive director, has been elected as the independent non-executive chairman of the board.
As announced October 2012, Bennie van Rooy, the current CFO has been appointed as CEO of the group’s consumer finance division from 1 March 2013. Jan van der Merwe will assume the role of CFO from this date.
Grattan Kirk
Financial performance
In its interim results for the period ended December 2012, JD Group reported a rise in revenue to R16.36 billion, from pro forma results of R15.33 billion in 2011.
Ebitda increased to R1.129 billion, from R969 million, with an operating profit at R727 million, from R723 million before.
JD Group announced that its retail, comprising the furniture chains, Incredible Connection, HiFi Corp and SteinBuild, generated revenue growth of 4,2%.
“This growth was achieved against a background of increased consumer stress, evidenced by a 2% reduction in the credit sale accept rate across the furniture chains.”
The group noted that a pleasing aspect of the performance was the improvement in the gross margin to 30.8% (Pro Forma results: 29.9%).
At the end of 2012, Incredible Connection had 65 stores, while Hi-Fi Corp had 37 stores.
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