Tongaat Hulett

Tongaat Hulett Ltd.
TypePublic
JSE: TON, LSE: THL
IndustryAgriculture
Sugar
Founded1892 (1892)
HeadquartersoThongathi, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa,
Key people
Liege Hulett, founder
JG Hudson, CEO
RevenueR14,373 Billion (FY 2013)[1]
R2,145 Billion (FY 2013)[1]
Number of employees
31, 230 [2]
Websitewww.tongaat.com
www.huletts.co.za

Tongaat Hulett is a South African agriculture and agri-processing business, focusing on the complementary feedstocks of sugarcane and maize. Headquartered in oThongathi, KwaZulu-Natal, Tongaat Hulett was founded in 1892.

The company was formed as a result of a merger between the Tongaat Sugar Company and Hulett's Sugar.[3] Company stock is listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange. Its core businesses are sugar, starch and property management.

The company is the largest producer of white refined sugar in South Africa. It operates three sugar mills in SA, with a capacity of over 4.8 million tons per year. Sugar cane is provided to Tongaat Hulett by around 18,000 independent growers.[4]

History

In 2022, Tongaat Hulett entered business rescue - a process which later failed.[5]

In June 2026, it was reported that a liquidation hearing for the company was upcoming. The South African Canegrowers Association said that if the company was allowed to enter an unfunded liquidation, commercial demand for white sugar would shift overseas. It asked the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) and others to take measures to prevent the liquidation, or ensure a funded liquidation.[4]

Controversy

At the end of 2018, the CEO, Peter Staude took early retirement[6] and the chief financial officer, Murray Munro, went on sick-leave.[7] In January 2019, a new CEO was appointed. In February 2019, the company announced a drop in expected profits[8] as well as a liquidity crisis.[9]

In May 2019, the company announced that its published financial results could not be relied on and that the company's equity (the value of the business after liabilities) in its 2018, financial results has been overstated by between R3.5 billion to R4.5 billion[10] in addition revised financial reports would be published in October 2019.[11] The Zimbabwean operation of Tongaat-Hulett has also not been able to provide reliable financial reports in 2019 on time.[12]

PricewaterhouseCoopers was employed to do a forensic audit.[10] The diligence of the company's regular auditors, Deloitte has been called into question.[13] The company suspended trading on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.[14] In late June 2019, the company laid a criminal charge against an unnamed executive.[15][11] In an effort to survive the company is cutting costs and has sent retrenchment letters to 5000 employees.[10][16] In August 2019, the company decided to remove itself from the list of traded companies on the London Stock Exchange.[17]

In February 2022, seven people connected with the scandal namely, Peter Staude, Murray Hector Munro, Michael Edward Deighton, Rory Edward Wilkinson, Kamasagrie Singh, Samantha Shukla and Gavin Dykes Kruger appeared in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court and were granted bail.[18] The appeared in court again in April 2022.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b Tongaat Hulett:Audited results for the year ended 31 March 2013, May 2013, Retrieved: 23 May 2013.
  2. ^ Tongaat Hulett:Employees as of 31 March 2013 Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, March 2013, Retrieved: 31 March 2013.
  3. ^ Berakofi (2021-04-09). "About Tongaat Hulett Group". BeraPortal.com. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
  4. ^ a b Caitlyn Hilliard-Lomas (3 June 2026). "End of a R500 million company in South Africa risks leaving three ghost towns behind". BusinessTech. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  5. ^ Sandile Motha (3 June 2026). "Allowing liquidation of Tongaat Hulett will roll back the gains of the Sugar Value Chain Master Plan". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  6. ^ Hedley, Nick (6 August 2018). "Tongaat Hulett CEO Peter Staude to go sooner than expected". Business Day.
  7. ^ Mchunu, Sandile (12 February 2019). "Tongaat Hulett hopeful new CFO can bring sweetness back to group". Business Report. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  8. ^ Gernetzk, Karl (26 February 2019). "Tongaat Hulett falls 20% to 25-year low". Business Day.
  9. ^ Ginindza, Banele (25 April 2019). "Tongaat Hulett renews its cautionary notice". Business Report. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  10. ^ a b c "Tongaat Hulett's listing has been suspended - here's what we know about the crisis at the sugar giant". businessinsider.co.za. 10 June 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  11. ^ a b Harper, Paddy (19 July 2019). "Sugar barons' greed costs workers". The M&G Online. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  12. ^ Mataranyika, Memory (2 August 2019). "Tongaat Hulett's Zim unit misses extended deadline to release financials". Fin24. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  13. ^ de Villiers, James (4 June 2019). "Tongaat Hulett scandal: Deloitte replaces senior auditors and launches an internal investigation". businessinsider.co.za. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  14. ^ Dlamini, Sizwe (10 June 2019). "JSE suspends Tongaat Hulett listing". Business Report. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  15. ^ Prinsloo, Loni (27 June 2019). "Criminal case opened against former Tongaat Hulett executive". Business Day.
  16. ^ Fourie, Penny (22 May 2019). "Thousands to lose their jobs at Tongaat Hulett". North Coast Courier. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  17. ^ Heiberg, Tanisha (2 August 2019). "Tongaat Hulett to delist from LSE". Moneyweb. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  18. ^ Mashego, Penelope; Singh, Kaveel (10 February 2022). "Former Tongaat Hulett CEO and other ex-directors granted bail in R1.5bn fraud case". Fin24. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  19. ^ Marriah-Maharaj, Jolene (11 April 2022). "Tongaat Huletts senior executives charged over R3.5 billion fraud may face additional charges". iol.co.za. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
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