Pioneer shares tumble after shock news of CEO's exit
The share price of consumer brands conglomerate Pioneer Foods plunged on Friday on news that highly rated CEO Phil Roux would retire in October. Despite a reassuring tone in the accompanying Sens announcement, Pioneer’s shares were unceremoniously marked down almost 7% to a new 12-month low of R118. Roux — a former Tiger Brands executive — joined Pioneer in May 2013 and has been credited with revitalising the company’s fortunes by focusing on its best-selling brands and implementing a successful cost-cutting regime. When Roux took the helm, Pioneer’s share price was about R77. By October 2015, the price had breached the R200 level but retreated in the last 18 months as tougher trading conditions took hold in the consumer sector. A trading update released in mid-August disclosed that turnover at Pioneer – which holds brands such as Sasko, Bokomo, Marmite, Redro, Liquifruit, Moir’s and Ceres – decreased 4% for the 10 months to end-July 2017. At that time, Pioneer maintained it would b...
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