{"id":853711,"date":"2026-03-12T09:34:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T07:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=853711"},"modified":"2026-04-02T11:16:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T09:16:39","slug":"woolworths-ceo-calls-it-a-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/853711\/woolworths-ceo-calls-it-a-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Woolworths CEO calls it a day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Woolworths Group CEO Roy Bagattini will retire from the group at the end of September 2026, following six years at the company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group also announced that Sam Ngumeni will take over as the new Woolworths Holdings Limited (WHL) Group CEO, being promoted from his current role as CEO of Woolworths Food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bagattini will step down from his roles as Group CEO and executive director with effect from 31 May 2026, but will work closely with Ngumeni to ensure a smooth handover. Ngumeni will take over the top job from 1 June 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woolworths said that Bagattini’s retirement follows a period of consideration by himself and the board, and forms part of a comprehensive succession plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Following significant progress in the strategic repositioning of WHL, and given Roy’s pending retirement, it is now the optimal time to transition leadership as the Group continues to build on its strengthened foundations and prospects for growth.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Under Roy’s stewardship, the group has materially strengthened its capital allocation framework and disciplines and fundamentally enhanced its long-term growth and value creation prospects.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This included the disposal of David Jones and the shift in capital and management focus towards more returns-accretive strategies and businesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group has also de-leveraged its balance sheet and increased investment in its core South African assets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his leadership, the group also acquired Absolute Pets, launched Woolworths Ventures and started the first share buyback programme in its history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“During his tenure, Roy has also overseen the repositioning of the apparel businesses, improving their longer-term competitiveness, thereby ensuring they are now well placed to contribute more meaningfully to value unlock for the group.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New CEO <\/h2>\n\n\n
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The appointment of Ngumeni comes after a review of both internal and external candidates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ngumeni has almost thirty years of experience and has served as the Executive Director of WHL since 2014. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has held several senior executive positions across the group, including Group Chief Operating Officer, Group Director: HR & Transformation, and CEO of Woolworths Financial Services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is also a member of the WHL’s Risk, Information and Technology Committee, the Sustainability Committee, and the Social and Ethics Committee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also serves on the boards of the group’s large subsidiaries, being Woolworths (Pty) Ltd and Country Road Group (Pty) Ltd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Since assuming the role of CEO of the Food division, Sam has successfully led the business’s continued above-market performance and further strengthened its leadership in premium food retailing in the country,” the group said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While serving as group COO, he was responsible for the group’s Supply Chain and Logistics, Stores, Information Technology, Online and Digital, AI, Data and Analytics, Real Estate, and Rest of Africa operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said that his strong understanding of both South Africa and Australia, as well as his deep operational expertise, positions him to lead the group in the next phase of its strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I am deeply honoured to be appointed as Group CEO of this iconic Company, and one which is held in such high regard in our country,” said Ngumeni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I feel a profound sense of responsibility in leading this business in the next phase of its growth trajectory and am truly excited about the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for us.”
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Woolworths Group CEO Roy Bagattini will retire this year, with Woolworths Food CEO Sam Ngumeni taking over. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":794904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[949],"class_list":["post-853711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-woolworths"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853711"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":855834,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853711\/revisions\/855834"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}