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Premier CEO Kobus Gertenbach is set for a R17.4m payout after leading the food producer through a landmark year that delivered record financial results and the completion of its R6.5bn acquisition of RFG Holdings. The company has also continued to grow strongly since its JSE listing, lifting its market value to roughly match that of 82-year-old AVI.The short-term incentive (STI) forms part of Gertenbach’s total remuneration of R26.1m for the 2026 financial year to end-March. His package comprises a basic salary of R8.6m, other benefits of about R127,000 and the R17.4m bonus. This compares with total remuneration of R22.7m in the previous financial year.(Dorothy Kgosi) According to the remuneration committee, the payout was determined by the group’s performance against pre-set financial and strategic targets, with no discretionary adjustments made.“The committee was satisfied that the resulting STI awards appropriately reflected the group’s strong financial performance and the individual contributions of the executive directors during the year. No discretionary adjustments were made to the STI formula, the performance measures or the resulting performance outcomes.”CFO Fritz Grobbelaar was awarded a bonus of R9.3m for the same year.Premier completed the RFG acquisition, a transaction that significantly expanded the group’s portfolio and made it the JSE’s second-largest listed food manufacturer by revenue. The group also reported strong financial results for the year, posting revenue growth of 7% to R21.2bn and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) growth of 18% to R2.8bn. Operating profit rose 23% to R2.4bn, and HEPS increased 28% to 1,204c. Cash generated from operations reached R3.3bn, allowing the company to declare a total shareholder payout of 341c per share.Gertenbach has led Premier since April 2021 and oversaw the company’s listing on the JSE in March 2023. Since listing, the business has grown substantially. According to Premier’s latest annual report, its market capitalisation was R6.9bn at listing. According to Iress data, the valuation has increased to over R30bn, while rival Tiger Brands, which recently committed a whopping R200m to its manufacturing business in Paarl, is valued at R46.3bn.On a stand-alone basis, Premier has posted compound annual growth of 16% in Ebitda and 28% in HEPS over the four years since listing, it said.Commenting on the group’s performance in his letter to shareholders, Gertenbach pointed to the quality of the group’s earnings as the basis for that growth. “Everything is driven by volume growth and operational efficiency rather than price. This really does speak to the underlying strength of our business model,” he said.That growth has been underpinned by sustained capital investment. According to the report, Premier has invested R7.8bn in capital expenditure (capex) since 2011, including R1bn in 2026. Everything is driven by volume growth and operational efficiency rather than price. This really does speak to the underlying strength of our business model.— CFO Fritz GrobbelaarSince listing, capex has totalled R2.9bn, funding projects such as the Aeroton bakery in Gauteng, commissioned this year, and the Tshwane bakery, commissioned in 2023. Together, these form part of what the company calls a “multi-year, multibillion-rand” inland bakery strategy aimed at modernising its manufacturing base.The RFG deal itself was Premier’s largest since listing, but not its first. The group has made 16 acquisitions since 2011, most of them smaller, bolt-on deals designed to add complementary categories without disrupting the core business. Premier has described its approach to capital allocation as disciplined, with every rand invested required to generate an appropriate return, a standard it says applies equally to organic investment and to acquisitions.In March, the company repurchased just over 1.8-million shares for R322m under a general share buyback. Its stated target is to return 30% of diluted HEPS from continuing operations as an annual dividend, a policy it says it can maintain while still funding growth.For the 2027 financial year Gertenbach’s total guaranteed package will rise by 20%, comprising the group’s general annual salary increase of 5.5% and a further 14.5% market alignment adjustment.The committee said the adjustment followed a benchmarking review that found the executive directors’ guaranteed pay had remained below comparable market levels since listing. This reflected a deliberate decision in 2023 to weight remuneration more heavily towards performance-based pay.Business Day
