SOUTH AFRICA – Tiger Brands, JSE listed packaged food processor has announced that its current Chief Financial Officer, Noel Doyle, has been appointed its new CEO with effect from February 1, 2020.
Doyle will take over from Lawrence MacDougall, who is retiring at the end of this month, having reached the company’s mandatory retirement age of 63.
“Lawrence has been at the helm of Tiger Brands since 2016 and will exit the company on 31 March 2020 to ensure a smooth handover,” said Tiger Brands in an update to shareholders.
Speaking about MacDougall, who has headed Tiger Brands since 2016, Dr Khotso Mokhele, chairman of the company’s board, said: “We want to thank Lawrence for almost four years of devoted service which involved many accomplishments and wish him all the best in his upcoming retirement and future endeavours.”
“After a rigorous and extensive search process, the board and I are pleased to have appointed someone of Noel’s calibre, experience and ability to fill the CEO position.”
The Johannesburg-listed company said it will update the market on the CFO position in due course.
MacDougall headed the business during the 2018 listeria outbreak linked to a factory owned by its subsidiary Enterprise Foods in Polokwane.
The outbreak led to death of more than 200 people and a class action lawsuit filed against the company.
In November, the company launched a review of the business started exploring options of its sale.
The food producer said the Value-Added Meat Products (VAMP) division had been earmarked for review prior to that event, and that the review had concluded it was “not an ideal fit” within the portfolio.
In a statement Tiger Brands highlighted that it had started formal due diligence on Nov. 6 after receiving “several indicative offers”. It will further evaluate its options once the process is completed.
