Diversified industrial manufacturer KAP says chair Patrick Quarmby will step down from his position at the end of the upcoming AGM in November after nearly 13 years on the board.
The JSE-listed group said Quarmby, who reached retirement age at 70, had served as a director on the board since 2012. He would also relinquish his post on the nomination and investment committees and retire as an independent non-executive director.
“He led the board as chairperson in an exemplary manner over the last three years,” the company said in a statement, “the board wishes him well in his retirement.”
The industrial, chemical and logistics group named the company’s current lead independent non-executive director, and non-executive chair of PSG Capital and WeBuyCars Holdings, Johan Holtzhausen, as Quarmby’s successor.
It said he would remain a member of the remuneration and investment committees.
Holtzhausen, who was first appointed as an independent non-executive director of KAP in March 2023, is an admitted attorney and a member of the Law Society with more than 26 years of corporate finance and private equity experience.
Having led and advised on numerous listings, mergers, acquisitions, capital raisings, private equity and BEE transactions, both in SA and abroad, he holds non-executive directorship of various unlisted entities, which include financial services and private equity.
The diversified manufacturing firm has been cutting costs and improving optimisation across the group, focusing on keeping working capital levels as low as possible, discontinuing underperforming activities and curtailing non-essential capital expenditure in favour of a few large projects.
It also implemented turnaround plans at Unitrans, which KAP said was benefiting from its restructuring, showing an improved performance.
However, KAP’s progress has been overshadowed by the negative effect of lower polymer margins on Safripol.
Stellenbosch-based KAP, which posted a 4% decline in annual earnings, has said it is focused on completing the reorganisation of Unitrans, getting its commissioned projects up and earning cash so it can begin to pay down its debt accumulated on those builds in the medium term.
KAP’s share price was up 1.83% to R3.34 on Thursday afternoon, having risen more than 27% in the last six months.
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