Just days after asking the JSE to halt share trading while two of its businesses entered business rescue proceedings, Murray & Roberts (M&R) on Thursday announced the resignation of group chair Suresh Kana, with effect from November 30, while nonexecutive director Jesmane Boggenpoel will leave in mid-December.
Kana steps down from the role after having been appointed in July 2015.
Boggenpoel, whose duties included advising, challenging and monitoring the executive directors’ delivery of strategy within the board-agreed approval framework and risk appetite, as well as providing independent and objective judgment, was appointed in April 2020.
The company did not give reasons for the sudden departures of the board members but it thanked Kana and Boggenpoel for their valuable contributions during their tenures.
Clifford Raphiri has been appointed as interim chair with effect from December 1, until a permanent appointment is made, the company said.
Raphiri, a former nonexecutive chair of Adcock Ingram, was appointed to the M&R board in March 2020 and has served as a member of the audit & risk, remuneration and nominations & governance committees.
“He has extensive expertise in strategic leadership, operations & human capital, engineering and risk,” M&R said.
Last week, M&R announced that one of its subsidiaries, M&R Ltd, and its trading division, OptiPower, had gone into business rescue in a bid to stabilise its position and operations in SA, while trade in its shares on the JSE was temporarily suspended.
This came as the company said it had been grappling with liquidity constraints in SA, and losses associated with the dissolution of the Venetia diamond mine contract, which accounted for more than 50% of the group’s local operations.
M&R is bracing itself for a huge hit as diamond miner De Beers cuts back on a R2.6bn underground expansion project at its Venetia mine in Limpopo. M&R was selected as the preferred contractor but De Beers has since faced its own headwinds due to structural changes in the diamond industry.
Working with reduced working capital despite debt reductions also weighed on the company, while the mining business in the Americas had a slow start to the 2025 financial year.
Early this month, the company said it was in talks to refinance its debt and sell assets as it seeks to overcome the cash crunch at its SA business.
CEO Henry Laas said despite the challenges the group remained solvent as disclosed in its financial statements for the year to end-June, with a portfolio of high-quality assets in its core underground mining businesses.
He said on this basis, the holdings board was confident that a successful business rescue would result.
M&R’s stock was suspended at R1.10 last Friday.
M&R left SA’s construction sector in 2016 as projects dried up after the spending frenzy before the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
It has since focused on the resources, industrial, energy and water sectors. The strategic change saw more than 80% of M&R revenue coming from projects undertaken by its mining unit.
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