Xolani Mbambo to lead Grindrod as CEO from January 1.
Grindrod on Friday announced that Xolani Mbambo would succeed Andrew Waller as chief executive from January 1, 2023.
Waller advised the board in June 2021 of his intention to retire in 2022. He will remain in his role as CEO until December 31 to facilitate a smooth transition to Xolani.
Mbambo will head a firm that is in good financial shape and with a market value of nearly R6 billion. Its share price on Friday was at R8.60 and has leapt 82.3 percent this year amid a sea of red on the JSE, while in three years its share is up 37.24 percent.
Grindrod is a logistics and financial services company with significant investments in marine fuel trading, private equity and the property sector.
Last month it flagged a strong performance in the first five months of 2022, saying in a pre-close update it expected headline earnings per share to improve by at least 100 percent in the year to June 30 compared with 0.7 cents for the previous corresponding period.
Grindrod’s chairperson, Cheryl Carolus, said: “The Board is excited to have Xolani lead Grindrod in its quest to deliver an efficient and cost-effective logistics solution for its customers’ cargo flow, whilst touching the lives of the communities in which we operate.”
Xolani is currently an executive director of Grindrod and its various subsidiaries, joint ventures and associate businesses. He leads Grindrod’s Freight Services division as its CEO and has been with the Grindrod group in different leadership roles since March 2013.
Before joining Grindrod, Xolani spent 12 years of his career in the mining sector working for Anglo American across various roles in finance, procurement, business and dry-bulk commodity performance analysis and greenfield project implementation, in its offices and operations in South Africa, Botswana and the UK. He holds a chartered accountancy qualification and completed the Advanced Management Programme from Harvard Business School.
BUSINESS REPORT