Since taking the helm at Pioneer Foods in 2013, Phil Roux has made great strides at the company. Under his watch the former food sector also-ran’s operating profit margin has risen from a sorry 4% to over 11%, its headline EPS have gone up 125% and its dividend has jumped over 150%. Roux is far from satisfied, however. "We have just completed our corporate strategy review," says Roux. "We asked the question: is our business portfolio fully optimised? The answer is a definite no." Roux is setting demanding goals for the R20bn annual revenue company, which includes what he terms its "power brands" Weet-Bix, Bokomo, Liqui-Fruit , Sasko, Spekko, Ceres, White Star and Safari. "I want the group operating margin to be at least 13.5% by the end of 2018," Roux says. "There is still a lot more to do to drive cost efficiencies."
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