Sweet ending for Tongaat Hulett as it weathers accounting scandal

DURBAN – Tongaat Hulett has emerged from its accounting scandal in better shape than it was 12 months ago after it reduced its headline loss to R285 million during the year to end March 2020.

The group said this was a 79 percent improvement from last year’s headline loss of R1.4 billion. Chief executive Gavin Hudson said the group’s strategy to turn Tongaat into a low-cost sugar producer and a leading agri-business in Africa was starting to manifest in their financial results.

Hudson said that more however remained to be done to position the group to where it should be. He said the group’s management and directors were committed to the turnaround strategy.

“The financial mismanagement uncovered in early 2019 was devastating for Tongaat, and affected every aspect of our business,” Hudson said. “To get Tongaat back to operating efficiently, strategically and profitably required nothing short of a fundamental restructuring of our business. We executed this swiftly and also undertook a sweeping review of our policies, procedures and processes as well as every aspect of our governance.”

The agriculture and agriprocessing business is on a rebound following a report by PwC which revealed that some of its former executives were responsible for overstating assets and profits by using “undesirable accounting practices”.