Tiger Brands Ltd. appointed Lawrence Mac Dougall from Mondelez International Inc. as the new chief executive officer of South Africa’s largest food producer after the resignation of Peter Matlare last year, pushing its shares higher.
Noel Doyle will continue to act as CEO until Mac Dougall joins on a date to be announced this month, the maker of All Gold tomato sauce and Black Cat peanut butter said in a statement Wednesday. Tiger Brands shares rose 3.9 per cent to 317.47 rand by 11:12 am in Johannesburg.
"Mac Dougall is not lacking any experience and news about his appointment will be positively received," said Sumil Seeraj, an analyst at Standard Bank Group Ltd. "The great concern was that if they did appoint an outsider that Noel would leave. If he sticks around it will be good." Doyle had been chief operating officer and previously oversaw the milling and baking operations, Tiger Brands’ largest division by income.
Mac Dougall is currently executive vice president and regional president for eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa at Mondelez, Tiger Brands said. He previously served as managing director of Bromor Foods (Pty) Ltd. and Cadbury (Pty) Ltd. in South Africa.
The new CEO will arrive as food producers are contending with rising costs for ingredients such as white corn, with the price of the grain more than doubling since the start of last year after the worst drought in more than a century. A 25 per cent plunge in the rand against the US dollar in the period has also pushed up import costs.
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