{"id":871158,"date":"2026-08-22T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=871158"},"modified":"2026-08-21T17:15:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T15:15:20","slug":"spar-loses-r10-billion-in-eight-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/871158\/spar-loses-r10-billion-in-eight-months\/","title":{"rendered":"SPAR loses R10 billion in eight months"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SPAR has lost around R10 billion in market cap since the start of the year, with questions remaining about its turnaround. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SPAR’s share price has fallen over 50% since the start of the year to its current level, with its market cap now in the R8 billion range. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group has faced an incredibly difficult couple of years, which included a multi-billion SAP implementation blunder at its main KwaZulu-Natal distribution site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also faced a series of franchisee disputes and had exited disastrous investments in Poland and Switzerland, while its UK business is also for sale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In spite of major issues, the group’s share price was mostly stable between 2023 and 2025, but took a nosedive in 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company announced that CEO Angelo Swartz, who had been leading the turnaround strategy, would leave at the end of February. He oversaw the sale of the Polish and Swiss businesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reeza Isaacs was then appointed as Swartz’s replacement, moving from the CFO role. He previously worked as the Finance Director at Woolworths. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isaacs’ start in the role has not been easy, with SPAR announcing that its headline earnings per share for the interim period ending March declined by 53.9% to 123.6 cents per share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another update early this week also disappointed investors, with the share price plummeting even further. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

End of an era for SPAR<\/h2>\n\n\n
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The disappointing performance saw the group’s independent retailers petition the board to remove chairman Mike Bosman in May. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Bosman and deputy chair Shirley Zinn both resigned as independent non-executive directors with the release of the group’s latest update. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephan Erasmus, Investment Analyst at Anchor Capital, noted that the nominations committee is now recruiting directors against a skills matrix that includes direct experience in retail and independent retail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This suggests that the group sees the need for this expertise on its board. Interestingly, Bosman remains the chair of the SPUR Group, which does have a franchise model. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“SPAR has been the weakest performer among the JSE-listed food retailers this week, and by a wide margin,” said Erasmus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The board shake-up may represent a step in the right direction, although we see the appointment of a chairperson who commands the confidence of SPAR\u2019s store owners as critical.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that the relationship between SPAR and its independent store owners is symbiotic, and rebuilding trust is essential to restoring the business to a sustainable footing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he noted that SPAR finds itself in a difficult operating position without the luxury of time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

South African operating profit dropped materially in the first half of the financial year, while a growing proportion of amounts owed to the group by retailers is overdue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SPAR is unusual in the sense that its international operations in Ireland remain steady and account for most of the group’s operating profit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The SPAR balance sheet provides little room for further execution missteps, with South African leverage approaching its covenant limits and the dividend suspended,” Erasmus noted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The well-publicised SAP software implementation challenges have not helped its cause, with the rollout still incomplete and remaining a material execution risk.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Anchor is on the sidelines, it could change its mind if there is a credible board reset, improved relations with its independent store owners and evidence of a sustainable recovery by the local business. <\/p>\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SPAR has lost around R10 billion in market cap since the start of the year, with its chair and deputy chair both resigning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":865989,"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":"2091163744688554141","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2183530692467330","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18172753675445973","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[11827,10435],"class_list":["post-871158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-anchor-capital","tag-spur"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871158","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=871158"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":871167,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871158\/revisions\/871167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}