DURBAN – Tongaat Hulett on Thursday rewarded its three executive directors handsomely in the financial year to the end of March for their sterling performance in turning around the agriculture and agri-processing company following the uncovering of financial mismanagement in early 2019.
The three executives are chief executive Gavin Hudson, chief financial officer Rob Aitken and executive director Dan Marokane.
Hudson’s total remuneration for the year to end the March was R25.42 million, up from R3.26m in 2019, according to its annual report.
However, the 2019 total remuneration package consists of only two months of service, as he was appointed in February 2019.
“Hudson’s remuneration for the 2019 financial year relates to the period February 1, 2019, to March 31, 2019. His other allowances include a sign-on bonus of R2m paid on commencement of employment, to compensate for vacating a higher-paying position,” the group said.
His 2020 figure includes a cash package of R6.6m, a retirement and medical aid contribution of R946 000, a turnaround incentive one of R8.48m, a turnaround incentive two of R9.36m, and R36 000 as other allowances.
Tongaat Hulett said turnaround incentive one was introduced at the beginning of the March 2020 financial period, where the company had to perform against set milestones over a two-year period, and incentive two was a short-term incentive plan that was introduced at the beginning of the March 2020 financial period.
The performance comes after Tongaat emerged from its accounting scandal by reporting a strong surge in earnings in 2020, with operating profit climbing to R3.3 billion compared with R551m in 2019 and revenue up by 18 percent to R15.4bn. Headline earnings per share increased by 111 percent to 90 cents a share.
The three executives shared an amount of R37.64m in cash bonuses for 2020 for their efforts in both turnaround incentives.
Hudson was instrumental in driving the company through its turnaround plan during the year after the departure of former chief executive Peter Staude. Staude and former financial director Murray Munro were paid total packages of R13.51m and R2.25m, respectively, for 2019.
However, the group said the financial year 2019 remuneration disclosed for Staude relates to the period April 1, 2018, to October 31, 2018, when he retired from the board. It added that Munro’s remuneration was for the period April 1, 2018, to August 7, 2018, when he resigned from the board.
Aitken and Marokane received total remuneration packages of R15.34m and R16.71m, respectively, in 2020.
Aitken took home a total of R2.79m in 2019. The group said his remuneration for 2019 related to the period August 7, 2018, to March 31, 2019. Marokane was appointed to the executive committee, effective April 1, 2019.
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