{"id":870925,"date":"2026-08-19T15:37:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T13:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=870925"},"modified":"2026-08-19T15:37:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T13:37:25","slug":"spar-in-hot-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/870925\/spar-in-hot-water\/","title":{"rendered":"SPAR in hot water"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SPAR’s recent boardroom battles and challenges in its turnaround strategy have led to the retail giant’s share price more than halving since the start of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 2 January 2026, the group’s share price was R94.92 and fell to R41.00 by the close of trading on 18 August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This represents a 56.8% drop in the share price since the start of the year, with the largest decline in February following the announcement of the group CEO’s resignation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Angelo Swartz joined SPAR in 2023, was held in high regard by many of the group’s shareholders, and was a key figure in the company’s turnaround efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was responsible for the group ceasing operations in several overseas markets, including Switzerland and Poland, helping reduce debts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February, SPAR issued a notice to shareholders stating that Swartz would resign as CEO of the group at the end of the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the resignation, Reeza Isaacs took the helm as CEO, continuing the company’s turnaround efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swartz is not the only high-profile resignation the company has seen in recent years, as issues at the highest level have plagued the retail giant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group has seen a revolving door of executives since 2022, when its non-executive chairman, Graham O’Connor, resigned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His resignation came amidst accusations of financial misconduct and governance concerns, and he was replaced by Mike Bosman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bosman would also serve as the executive chairman of the group for a short period in 2023, following the retirement of Brett Botten, SPAR’s former CEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later in 2023, the group attempted to implement new SAP supply chain management software in its distribution centre in KwaZulu-Natal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The implementation was disastrous and led to the resignation of SPAR’s Chief Information Officer, Mark Huxtable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most recent resignations occurred on 17 August 2026, when Bosman and deputy chair Shirley Zinn announced their retirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These recent resignations caused another drop in share prices, with the price declining by approximately 9% from the opening on 17 August to the close on 18 August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SPAR currently has a market cap of approximately R8 billion, down significantly from the company’s value at the start of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Silver lining for retailers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite the hit to share prices, Mike Bosman’s resignation might be seen as a welcome sight by many of SPAR’s retailers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group has a unique operating style when compared to other popular retailers, with stores operating independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While other retailers require store owners to stock specific products and adhere to predetermined management principles, SPAR owners have much more freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These owners are a part of the SPAR guild, which called for Bosman’s resignation in May over concerns about management failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The guild said that there had been a serious loss of confidence in Bosman and that his tenure as chairman could not continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protea Capital Management CEO Jean Pierre Verster spoke on BusinessDay TV’s stock watch about the relationship between SPAR and its retailers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Their retail partners, who they should support, have been very unhappy with what they’ve done with their position in the chain,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A lot of the guild members and retailers will not be too displeased with the chairman and deputy chairman stepping down.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SPAR’s retailers have been under pressure in recent years, with many stores struggling to stay profitable amidst supply challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group is currently facing litigation over the failed implementation of the SAP system in its KZN distribution centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This implementation was a considerable challenge for the group’s retailers, who struggled to receive goods for their stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

News that SPAR was facing legal action came around the same time as the announcement of Swartz’s resignation, with investors not taking kindly to either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the start of February, the group was trading at a share price of R88.80, which dropped to R69.80 on the final day of that month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This represents a 21.4% reduction in the share price over one month, with the price reaching its lowest point that month at R66.97.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MP9 Chief Investment Officer Aheesh Singh also spoke to BusinessDayTV, and said that, “clearly, SPAR needs to do something to stabilise the ship.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Hopefully, they find the right people who can point them in the right direction strategically”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spar has struggled with declining share prices over the last year, amid executive resignations and legal battles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":856831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2090070792193134843","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2180759182744481","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18107336753126492","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[26219,26181,26182,9838],"class_list":["post-870925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-angelo-swartz","tag-mike-bosman","tag-reeza-isaacs","tag-spar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870925","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\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870925"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":870978,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870925\/revisions\/870978"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}