PPC appoints interim chairperson

23-09-2014
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Fin24
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Johannesburg - The Chamber of Mines has announced that its chief executive Bheki Sibiya will assume the role of executive chairperson at Portland Pretoria Cement [JSE:PPC] (PPC) on an interim basis.

The chamber has approved the appointment, which will be with immediate effect until December 31 2014. Chief operating officer Roger Baxter will serve as the chamber's acting chief executive until December 31, according to a statement.

PPC's CEO Ketso Gordhan quit abruptly on Monday, with the company citing clashes between him and the board, sending its shares to their biggest daily fall in nearly six years.

Read: PPC CEO quits after clash with board

Gordhan, who was appointed at the start of last year, leaves the company in the middle of an expansion drive into the rest of Africa that he had spearheaded to offset slowing demand at home.

PPC is building cement plants in Ethiopia, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe with the aim of achieving 40% of its sales outside South Africa, where economic growth has been faltering. The company makes about 24% of its R4.5bn in annual revenue from the rest of Africa.

Gordhan, who last year took a R1m pay cut, told Reuters in May that PPC's aggressive expansion plans might force it to scale back dividend payments.

Shares in PPC fell 7.7% to close at R30.60, their biggest daily percentage decline since November 2008.

The JSE saw its biggest one day drop in nine months on Monday, dragged lower by iron ore producers and the sharp fall in PPC.

Read: JSE falls led by PPC

"PPC was getting a bit traction with its Africa expansion plan. They are going to lose a lot of momentum from this," said Byron Lotter, an analyst at Johannesburg-based fund manager Vestact.

PPC said that Gordhan's departure was prompted by "differences of opinion" with the board, regarding "procedures for the approval of certain decisions" but that he had agreed to continue providing input to crucial projects he was leading.

"I am leaving with a heavy heart," Gordhan said in a statement released by the company.

The company said it has already started the recruitment process to find a permanent replacement for Gordhan.