PPC shares spike as Nelson gets appointed

PPC SHARES advanced as much as 0.17 percent on the JSE yesterday to R5.95 after the company announced that it had appointed interim chairman Peter Nelson as the permanent chairman with immediate effect. The shares eventually closed unchanged at R5.94. Nelson was appointed interim chairman in March this year following the retirement of previous chairman Bheki Sibiya at the end of January. Shares in PPC plunged by as much as 7.76 percent on January 26 when PPC announced Sibiya’s resignation. Sibiya’s decision was not unexpected, but the failure to announce a new chairman was not well received by the market. PPC said the company’s board had appointed Nelson the permanent chairman after he had successfully led the board during the capital raise period. “Given his outstanding performance, the board believes that Mr Nelson is well suited to lead the board and the company on a permanent basis,” the company said. PPC’s R4 billion rights offer in September was massively oversubscribed. The success of the rights offer enabled PPC to settle a large portion of its debt. Nelson’s experience covers manufacturing, mining, telecoms, health care, leisure, property, packaging and the motor industry in listed and private entities in South Africa, the UK, Zimbabwe and Nigeria, and he has served as the chief financial officer on several boards, including those of Telkom, Netcare and Mondi. – Roy Cokayne