Pretoria - Listed construction and engineering company Group Five, which slashed its number of employees by 23.5 percent or 2 841 people between June 2015 and June last year, is implementing a further voluntary and forced retrenchment process.
The group said in an update on its restructuring plan on Wednesday that the process was set to conclude at the end of June this year with the objective of right-sizing the business in line with the current market conditions.
“Acting chief executive Themba Mosai has implemented meaningful changes since his appointment at the beginning of March.
"These changes are aimed at unlocking shareholder value and addressing mainly the loss-making Engineering & Construction (E&C) cluster.
“The board and executive management are aligned on this approach,” the company said.
Group Five declined to quantify the number of employees who would be affected.
The restructuring of the group was highlighted at the its annual financial results presentation in February as “a priority short term management focus area”.
Read also: More senior staff casualties at Group Five
It was accompanied by the departure and resignation in recent months of a number of senior executives and board members.
Leaving
It was announced at the group’s financial results presentation in February that chief executive Eric Vemer would be leaving “within the next few weeks”.
Willie Zeelie, then an executive committee member and executive director of the E&C cluster, was also said to leave at the end of March, but would continue working with the group for a further 12 months in terms of a consultancy agreement.
Jesse Doorasamy, an executive committee member and head of human resources, subsequently resigned effective from the end of March while the resignation of Jon Hillary, a group executive committee member and head of investment and concessions, is effective from the end of next month.
At board level, non executive director and remuneration committee chairperson Mark Thomson resigned effective from April 6.
Group Five reported yesterday that it had revised the structure of the E&C cluster, with the South Africa and rest of Africa construction business to be led by Mark Humphreys, the executive director of construction.
Group Five shares rose 0.64 percent on the JSE to close at R15.80.