Decanter World Wine AwardsKWV boss resigns
- Monday 18 July 2011
Thys Loubser (pictured) took over the post in 2007. He has not commented on his departure, which comes months after investment company HCI became KWV’s largest shareholder.
André van der Veen, a KWV board member and senior HCI executive, has taken over the running of the company on an acting basis while a long-term replacement is sought.
KWV’s board said that ‘at this stage of the company’s internal restructuring it was opportune to effect a change in the leadership’ but declined to comment further.
Loubser’s departure comes at a difficult time for the company, which has lost many of its UK listings after enforcing price rises.
Global sales fell from 2.5m cases to 500,000 cases in the last six months of 2010.
Group profits slumped 80% to ZAR5.8m, while the core wine and spirits business made a loss of ZAR7.2m.
HCI acquired a 31.8% stake in KWV in February.
KWV, which owns brands including Roodeberg and Cathedral Cellar, has been trying to develop sales in emerging markets including Asia, while also building its business in the domestic South African market.
Image: KWV
Have your say!
Johanna Melck
September 07 10:42
The people from SANS who comment here, are expats who could not face the new employment equity reality that Loubser so successfully brought to SANS. This was but one of his achievements.
Dave Simpson
July 26 11:53
Those of us who worked at SANS could see this coming. A colleague commented, "Buy your 10-year KWV now. KWV won't be around for long with Thys in charge!"
Jen@cybercellar
July 20 12:32
Hopefully this change brings new prospects for KWV and ultimately The SA Wine Industry as a whole. Thanks for the informative article Richard.
Evan Byrne
July 19 10:10
IS HE INVOLVED IN THE PHONE-HACKING SCANDAL AS WELL? I THINK WE SHOULD BE TOLD...