New finance chief to stabilise Rolfes

Small-cap chemicals group Rolfes has finalised its new numbers man — a month after shocking the market with the disclosure that its previous financial statements were riven with accounting errors.

Andre Broodryk, a former financial head at listed group Interwaste Holdings, has been named chief financial officer. He joins recently installed permanent CEO Richard Buttle, onetime chief financial officer at document storage firm Metrofile. Buttle was meant to be a temporary stand-in as Rolfes’s financial head after former chief financial officer Johan Ferreira quit in May before the accounting mess became public.

But the debacle also cost CEO Lizette Lynch’s job, who resigned after the results were released in October.

According to Rolfes, “Broodryk is … already very familiar with the Rolfes group, having held the position of financial director of the Bragan Foods division since July 2017”.

Buttle, who admits he was “only meant to be temporary” when appointed in May said that Broodryk came to Bragan on the understanding that he would soon take over as chief financial officer from Buttle and the two “have worked well” together.

Rolfes’ restatement had a devastating effect on its share price, driving it 17% lower in one day. The shares have subsequently settled at about 280c — a drop of 52% from their highs of R5.89 struck in March.

Buttle said: “I’m certainly not offended that the share price hasn’t shot up” since his sudden appointment and said that the market clearly had “trust” issues. He hoped the interims for the period ended-December would help to steady market nerves.

The accounting errors and understatements of impairments related mainly to Rolfes’s Botswana water business and its lead chrome pigment product ranges, which were sold.

Rolfes normalised operating profit for the year to June rose 5.2% against the restated results, to R138m.