Sam Ngumeni , the CEO of Woolworths grocery division will replace Roy Bagattini as head of Woolworths Group in June.
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Sam Ngumeni , the CEO of Woolworths grocery division will replace Roy Bagattini as head of Woolworths Group in June, the company announced Thursday.
Bagattini’s departure comes after the South African retailer reported that interim headline earnings per share rose to 167.4 cents in the 26 weeks ended December 28, 2025, driven by festive season spending. It noted “ongoing progress in various strategic initiatives that had underpinned the interim performance on the back of improved trading in the apparel businesses and continued above-market growth in the food” business.
Now the company is readying up for a leadership transition that will see Bagattini retire from the company at the end of September this year. He was appointed group CEO for Woolworths in February 2020.
“Following significant progress in the strategic repositioning of WHL, and given Bagattini’s pending retirement, the board believe that now is the optimal time to transition leadership as Woolworths builds on its strengthened foundations and growth prospects,” said the company in a statement.
Bagattini will step down as Group CEO and executive director of Woolies at the end of May and will remain with the company up to the end of September.
Following a comprehensive succession process, the Board is pleased to announce the appointment of an internal successor, Sam Ngumeni, as Group Chief Executive Officer, effective June 1, 2026. Ngumeni has been with the group for almost 30 years and is currently CEO of the Food division.
Ngumeni was appointed CEO of Woolworths Food in July 2024 and has led the grocery division’s “continued above-market performance,” helping to strengthen its position in the market.
Ngumeni previously served as Group COO, overseeing key group functions in South Africa, other African operations, and Australia against the backdrop of overall accountability for stores, online, supply chain, IT, data and analytics as well as real estate and the rest of Africa operations.
“Ngumeni has extensive experience across various roles and functions within the group and a proven ability to set clear strategic priorities and execute effectively against these. His deep institutional knowledge, commercial acumen, and strong capability to drive performance will be invaluable as the Group further intensifies its execution in a rapidly evolving retail environment,” said Woolworths chairman, Clive Thomson.
Under Bagattini, Woolworths strengthened its capital allocation disciplines and fundamentally enhanced its long-term growth and value creation prospects. This includes the disposal of David Jones, deleveraging of the group’s balance sheet, increased investment in the company’s core South African assets and the acquisition of Absolute Pets. The launch of Woolworths Ventures and the Group’s inaugural share buyback programme also marked his leadership of the retailer.
Bagattini also spearheaded a repositioning of Woolworth’s apparel businesses in both South Africa and Australia, helping to improve the two businesses’ longer-term competitiveness.
“Leading Woolworths has been one of the great privileges of my career. We have an exceptional team and I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish together. I leave confident that Woolworths is well placed for the future and wish Ngumeni and the leadership team well as they take on the exciting challenges of this next important chapter for Woolies,” Bagattini said.
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