Exit of AngloGold chief will reverberate in SA

Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan’s departure for Vedanta Resources will leave a hole not only at AngloGold Ashanti, but in the broader business environment in SA.

The unassuming CEO of the world’s third-largest gold miner oversaw some of the toughest business decisions an executive had to make with the company’s assets, restructuring the business by selling large mines in SA and the US, reining in and reducing debt and removing a potentially business-destroying hedge book of 12m oz.

More pertinent and probably more sentimental than any other decision was the reduction of the company’s historical base as a leading producer of SA gold to just a single deep-level mine and a tailings retreatment operation, with the country now making up just 10% of annual group output of more than 3m oz.

While he was active at AngloGold as a CEO who would not shy away from tough decisions, he was also an important player behind the scenes, unlike his predecessor Mark Cutifani, who took bold, public positions on matters affecting SA mining.

Described as those close to him as a "real operator", he was a director at Business Leadership SA, where he argued powerfully for the lobby group to take an uncompromising stance on state corruption and the dealings of the politically connected Gupta family.

It was this strong ethical and principled stance that flowed into AngloGold and into other boards on which he sat. It’s something SA business in general will miss at this juncture.

Print and packaging group Novus has managed to drag its share price off the all-time low of R3.14 to which it had slumped in June, but at just over R4, shareholders won’t be inclined to much celebration.

There’s little positive news on the horizon for this company. Not only is it dealing with the effect of the declining print media but to date its diversification strategy has not demonstrated much familiarity with the concept of capital allocation.

Its tissue acquisition was a disaster as management poured more money into a hugely overpriced purchase.

Fortunately that folly has now been reined in, but there is little sign that a more coherent and profitable growth strategy is being pursued.

News of yet another senior executive resignation won’t help settle shareholder nerves.

Conrad Rademeyer, who heads the print division, has given notice and is expected to leave early in 2019. His departure will add to the dominance of relatively new appointees at top management level.

The group has an acting CFO, who was appointed in early July, and Neil Birch was only formally appointed CEO from June 19.

In a rather bizarre development, Birch recently had to hand back about 20% of the share appreciation rights he was awarded in July.

It seems he was allocated a chunk more than he should have been. It’s difficult to decide whether the excess allocation is more puzzling than the fact someone actually picked it up and reversed it.

The appointment of former Brait executive Dennis Mack as nonexecutive director suggests Value Capital Partners’ (VCP’s) director, is keen to keep an eye on its investment. VCP’s Anthony Ball is also from Brait.