Tiger Brands, which has marked its stunning turnaround with a brand makeover, is looking to cement its place as South Africa’s largest food producer after selling noncore assets and returning about R10bn to shareholders in the year ended September.
The market has rewarded the group’s tangible turnaround under retail veteran Tjaart Kruger, with the company’s stock up 42% over the past year.
Group CFO Thushen Govender told Business Day the turnaround of the once faltering group was due to the razor-sharp focus on people and driving a performance culture.
“One of the most critical levers we had to pull was our people and culture. We had to make sure we put the right organisational design in place,” he said.
“Historically there was quite a bit of centralised control, where the centre made the decisions and created bureaucracy, and the decision-making was not close to the coalface of the business.
“We decentralised many of the functions and created what we call a federated operating model. What that did was really to empower our people to make decisions quicker and remove the bureaucracy, and in our dynamic marketplace it is important to make relevant decisions faster. This drove the right culture in our business.”
The management actions over the past two years saw the group stage a quiet but determined comeback, moving market sentiment from a once cautionary tale of overreach and crisis to a leaner, more focused force in South Africa’s consumer sector.
The turnaround culminated in Tiger Brands rewarding shareholders with a second special dividend of R4bn after delivering a solid performance in the 2025 financial year, with volume growth and operating margins ahead of guidance.
One of Tiger’s lowlights over the past 15 years was the 2012 ambitious offshore expansion into Africa, with the acquisition of Nigeria’s Dangote Flour Mills. The transaction eventually unravelled, resulting in a R2.7bn write-down and reselling the business for a token $1.
Kruger took the helm two years ago, with the company’s market value having been stuck in the doldrums for several years.
He wasted little time in moving the decision-making process to frontline employees, allowing the business to be nimble, appointing six MDs across the business, removing layers of management and reducing their headcount.
The progress made by the group under Kruger’s stewardship led the board to extend his contract for another three years, to December 2028.
Govender, appointed as CFO in January 2024, having been promoted from chief growth officer, said the asset optimisation programme yielded the desired results.
“I have always said to the market there is no fire sale at Tiger Brands. We are selling heritage brands that can be turned around in many respects and have good market shares,” Govender said.
“King Foods is another business we think is better suited in the hands of another party. However, in the absence of finding a suitable home for the business, we will continue managing it with focus. We have already seen a nice turnaround in that business.”
Last week the group reported a 2.7% year-on-year increase in revenue to R34.4bn, while operating income was up 35% to R3.8bn as a result of continuous improvement initiatives, including value engineering, logistics optimisation and factory efficiencies.
The group, valued at R61bn on the JSE after an 85% rally over the past three years, owns iconic brands including Koo, Jungle Oats, Tastic, Fatti’s & Moni’s, All Gold and Black Cat.
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