A TOTAL RESET: Back to basics, says CEO Pattison after Edcon rescue coup By Tim Cohen tim_cohen
, Grant Pattison set out his plans for Edcon’s new era, fully aware that this is a company that has made these promises several times after its disastrous descent into the heady world of private equity, which lumbered the company with huge amounts of unsustainable debt. What makes it different this time?
In fact, Pattison says with typical brusqueness, he suspects the property companies probably don’t think their equity stakes mean much either. They probably think it’s a “nice gesture” that might mean something in some version of the future. Property companies will probably end up with between 5% and 10% of Edcon’s equity.
Pattison is firmly in the former camp. He says “I’m an engineer, so I think the only way to fix something is to correct what was broken”. The company made two key mistakes, he says. The first was selling the debtors book.Our credit offering has been terrible. If you compare Edcon to its competitors, their outperformance on new accounts has been massively better than ours”.
But he says, even after all that, Edcon will probably be loss-making in 2019 and 2020. It will need all of the effective R2.7-billion injection for the turn-around process. But it now has zero debt, something that it hasn’t had for more than a decade. How this plays out in the finances of the company will be significant, but on its own, that is not enough to engineer a turnaround.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Edcon CEO says focus is now on fixing the businessCEO Grant Pattison says with R2.7bn deal in place it can now move on and seek to improve its competitiveness
Read more »
Cell C’s Douglas Stevenson shifts to CEO from COOStevenson will serve as interim CEO from Friday, replacing CEO Jose dos Santos
Read more »
Ted Baker CEO quits amid harassment claimsFounder of Ted Baker fashion house Ray Kelvin steps down following claims that he enforced a 'hugging' culture and harassed his employees.
Read more »
Wife, stepsons charged in death of Malaysian venture capital firm CEO | IOL NewsThe wife of Nazrin Hassan, who was found dead in his bedroom with burn marks on his body, has been charged with murder, along with his two stepsons.
Read more »
Vale dismisses CEO over deadly dam collapseInvestors and analysts raise questions about Fabio Schvartsman replacement
Read more »
Bidvest says Mpumi Madisa will be its next CEOLindsay Ralphs will remain CEO until the 2021 financial year, which begins in July 2020
Read more »
Prasa acting CEO resignsSibusiso Sithole had been in the position for nine months when he tendered his resignation.
Read more »
Interim Prasa group CEO resigns after nine months on the jobPrasa said in a statement on Thursday that the board had accepted Sibusiso Sithole’s resignation
Read more »
Sibusiso Sithole resigns as Prasa interim CEOSibusiso Sithole has resigned from his position as interim CEO at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa.
Read more »