The nightmare on Katherine Street
The mystery of PPC’s vanishing CEOs
The cement maker has allowed speculation to mount after another boardroom tussle that has cost its CEO his job
Shareholders of 125-year-old PPC got a nasty dose of déjà vu this week as the company appeared yet to learn from its toxic boardroom fallout of 2014.
The cement maker has refused to clarify why CEO Darryll Castle — who was brought in to stabilise PPC after an unseemly fight that split the board and shareholders over the tenure of then CEO Ketso Gordhan — resigned this week after only three years in the job. Shareholders, many of whom helped support last year’s R4bn make-or-break rights offer under Castle, were none the wiser when the Financial Mail contacted them this week. Visio Capital, which owns 2.42% of the stock, says it got "nowhere" with PPC’s board, chaired by former Telkom financial director Peter Nelson. But, says Visio chief investment officer Patrice Moyal: "One thing we can say is there’s a better board of directors than before and we need to give them the benefit of the doubt for now."Clearly, not everyone shares his confidence. PPC shares immediately dived as much as 17% on the news, before retracing slightly to close down 9%. But this means that over the past three years, its stock has shed 85% of its value.PPC f...
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