How much Dis-Chem’s billionaire co-founders got paid last year

Dis-Chem has published its integrated annual report for the year ended February 2019, showing how much the group’s co-founders took home, and how much their stake in the company is currently worth.

Dis-Chem is a leading retail pharmacy group with operations in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. The company was co-founded by Ivan and Lynette Saltzman in 1978 when they opened their first retail pharmacy store in Mondeor, south of Johannesburg.

The group listed on the JSE in late 2016, with plans to accelerate its expansion in South Africa. As of 2019, the group’s retail division consists of a store base of 149 stores, over 280 clinics providing general health services, and its own courier business known as Dis-Chem Direct.

It also runs other services such as an online and click & collect business as well as ancillary services which include hair and beauty salons.

Although the group is a publicly listed company, the Saltzman family retained majority control of the group, with a 52.7% shareholding – or just over 453 million shares. At current share prices, this puts their combined shareholding at R12 billion.

Dis-Chem has a market capitalisation of R22 billion, and employs 17,500 permanent, fixed-term and casual employees.

Financial performance

Along with most of the retail sector in the 2018/19 financial year, Dis-Chem faced a challenging economy with consumers under pressure.

Despite this, the group increased revenue by 10% to R21.4 billion, with a gross margin at 24.4%.

Total income increased 14.2% to R6.2 billion, while operating profit increased 8.2% to R1.2 billion. Headline earnings were recorded at R735 million, and increase of 7.4%, with headline earnings per share (HEPS) at 85.4 cents.

The group declared a final dividend of 34.2 cents.

The group said that it has achieved its goal of rolling out 20 or more stores, annually, and the plan remains on track for the years moving ahead.

Five stores have been opened since the beginning of March 2019 and an additional 17 store openings are planned through to February 2020.

Executive pay

The group paid its executive directors a combined R34 million, with R4.9 million paid to non-executive directors.

Chief executive Ivan Saltzman took home R12.8 million for the year, while Lynette Saltzman – as managing director – took home R10.4 million.

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