Woolworths Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Roy Bagattini dumped almost 400,000 shares this year.
The head of Woolies sold 395,314 shares that were valued at R26.17 million, according to a SENS document.
Bagattini let go of the company’s ordinary shares in an on-market transaction in early October.
According to Woolworths, he made the sale in order to rebalance his portfolio and pay off tax obligations that arose after the vesting of his retention share plan (RSP).
Bagattini was not the only executive to have let go of Woolworths shares this year.
A number of Woolworths leaders dumped their shares in the second quarter of this year.
Samuel Ngumeni, the CEO of Woolworths’s Food division and executive director made the biggest sale and sold R37.83 million worth of shares.
Manie Maritz, the CEO of Woolworths Fashion, Beauty And Home also sold some of her Woolworths shares and raked in R9.1 million.
Financial results
This has not been a great financial year for the retailer.
Last month the company said that it experienced a challenging economic environment in SA and this impacted its bottom line.
Woolworths noted that its group turnover was up by 6.5% for the 53 weeks ended June 30, 2024, and operating profit declined from R6.6 billion to R6.0 billion.
The group’s headline earnings per share dropped by 30% from 514.7 cents per share to 364.2 cents per share.
Woolworths said that they had a challenging trading environment and this had a knock-on effect on their overall performance but Bagattini remained optimistic.
“We continue to make significant progress against our strategic initiatives and are on the right course to building a bigger, better, and far stronger business, fortifying our position as South Africa’s pre-imminent retailer and one of the country’s leading brands,” he claimed.
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