{"id":873256,"date":"2026-09-02T09:03:56","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T07:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=873256"},"modified":"2026-09-02T09:03:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T07:03:59","slug":"the-man-who-received-a-r54-million-golden-handshake-from-woolworths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/873256\/the-man-who-received-a-r54-million-golden-handshake-from-woolworths\/","title":{"rendered":"The man who received a R54 million golden handshake from Woolworths"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Woolworths\u2019 former chief executive Roy Bagattini left the South African retail giant in 2026 with a total remuneration package of R54.4 million, following just over six years at the helm of the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bagattini retired from the Woolworths board and his position as Group CEO on 31 May 2026, bringing an end to a tenure that began on 17 February 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Woolworths\u2019 results for the 52 weeks ended 28 June 2026, his actual remuneration increased sharply from R36.5 million in the previous financial year to R54.4 million in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nearly 50% increase was largely driven by incentive and share-based payments, despite Bagattini\u2019s guaranteed remuneration declining during his final year with the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His total guaranteed pay, including his base salary and benefits, fell to R21.1 million from R24.3 million in 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woolworths said this was because his remuneration was prorated to reflect the 11 months he worked during the financial year before retiring. His base salary amounted to R18.2 million, while benefits came to R2.9 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Bagattini also received a R6.5 million short-term performance bonus, compared to no bonus in the previous year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He further received R16.4 million through Woolworths\u2019 Restricted Share Plan, a retention remuneration scheme, which also represented a substantial increase from the nil payout recorded in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long-term incentive payments through the company\u2019s performance share and share schemes came to R10.4 million, slightly lower than the R12.2 million received in the previous year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The large remuneration package came as Bagattini oversaw a significant restructuring and repositioning of Woolworths during his time as CEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said its board succession planning process culminated in the leadership transition during the 2026 financial year, with long-serving executive director Sam Ngumeni taking over as Group CEO on 1 June 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ngumeni had served as an executive director on Woolworths\u2019 board since 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woolworths Food is booming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The retailer credited Bagattini with strengthening the group’s financial discipline and reshaping its long-term strategy during his time as CEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnder Roy\u2019s stewardship, the group has materially strengthened its capital allocation framework and disciplines and fundamentally enhanced its long-term growth and value creation prospects,\u201d Woolworths said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the biggest changes during his tenure was the disposal of the Australian department store business, David Jones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This allowed Woolworths to shift its capital and management focus towards businesses and strategies considered more capable of generating stronger returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group also reduced debt, increased investment in its core South African operations, acquired Absolute Pets, launched Woolworths Ventures and initiated the first share buyback programme in its history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuring 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,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bagattini\u2019s departure comes as Woolworths continues to face a challenging consumer environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the 2026 financial year, group turnover and concession sales increased by 4.3% to R84.5 billion, while audited profit before tax rose by 5.2% to R3.16 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, pressure on household budgets from high interest rates, fuel costs and broader living expenses weighed on discretionary spending, contributing to a 5.1% decline in net profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woolworths Food remained the group\u2019s strongest division, with revenue growing by 5.5% to R54.3 billion, although profit before tax declined slightly by 1.1% to R3.23 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its Fashion, Beauty and Home business faced more significant pressure, with profit before tax plunging by 45.6% to R653 million amid weak discretionary spending, competitive discounting and rising costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite these challenges, Woolworths increased its final dividend, signalling confidence in the group\u2019s liquidity and capital position as a new CEO takes charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feature<\/th>FY2025<\/th>FY2026<\/th>% Change<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Turnover and Concession Sales<\/strong> (Rm)<\/td>80,989<\/td>84,510<\/td>+4.3%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Turnover<\/strong> (Rm)<\/td>79,537<\/td>82,841<\/td>+4.2%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Revenue<\/strong> (Rm)<\/td>80,243<\/td>83,471<\/td>+4.0%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Gross Profit<\/strong> (Rm)<\/td>27,279<\/td>28,196<\/td>+3.4%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Operating Profit (Core Trading)<\/strong> (Rm)<\/td>5,050<\/td>5,115<\/td>+1.3%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Profit Before Tax (Audited)<\/strong> (Rm)<\/td>3,008<\/td>3,164<\/td>+5.2%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Profit for the Period<\/strong> (Rm)<\/td>2,455<\/td>2,331<\/td>-5.1%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Adjusted Headline Earnings<\/strong> (Rm)<\/td>2,740<\/td>2,806<\/td>+2.4%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Headline Earnings Per Share <\/strong>(cents)<\/td>268.1<\/td>282.3<\/td>+5.3%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Adjusted Headline Earnings Per Share <\/strong>(cents)<\/td>306.6<\/td>318.3<\/td>+3.8%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Dividend Per Share <\/strong>(cents)<\/td>188.0<\/td>199.0<\/td>+5.9%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Woolworths\u2019 former chief executive Roy Bagattini left the South African retail giant in 2026 with a total remuneration package of R54.4 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":873259,"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":"2095045260418142265","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2193569611463438","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17953434738250570","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[853,24375],"class_list":["post-873256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-south-africa","tag-woolworths-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873256","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\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873256"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":873270,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873256\/revisions\/873270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}