Ivan and Lynette Saltzman opened a single pharmacy in Mondeor in 1978. Forty-eight years on, that shop has become a JSE-listed retailer with 325 stores and a market value of R27.7bn, and as of Friday it has exactly one Saltzman left on its board. Saul Saltzman, the founders' son, resigned as a non-executive director with effect from 17 July, a decision the company disclosed to the market on Monday. The board thanked him for his invaluable contribution, commitment and dedicated service over many years, and said nothing at all about why he was going.
Twenty-five years, the smallest stake
Saul spent his entire 25-year career at Dis-Chem. He joined the board as an alternate director when the family listed the business in 2016, became an executive director in July 2022, and moved to a non-executive seat in February. Along the way he ran the import division and shaped the private-label strategy that now fills the shelves. For all that, he owns the least of any Saltzman: just under 350,000 shares held indirectly at the end of February, or 0.04% of the company. His brothers Mark and Dan have never worked at Dis-Chem and have never sat on its board. Each was handed a 12.62% interest in June last year, worth almost R7bn at the time.
A handover the family chose
None of this happened by accident. Ivan stepped down as chief executive in 2023 after 45 years, passing the job to Rui Morais, the first non-Saltzman to run the company. He retired as an executive director on 30 June and now sits as a non-executive director and deputy chair. Lynette left her executive role in July 2022 to focus on the group's beauty category. Otto1890 senior equity analyst Alec Abraham called the exit unsurprising, given that the family had handed the business to Morais's team and had been selling down its interests. "They've handed over the reins, they have done what they can with the business, and they are stepping away and moving on to other things. It makes sense."
The family also watched what happened elsewhere. The Ackermans recently gave up control of Pick n Pay to give that retailer room to run a turnaround, and Dis-Chem's founders did not want their own ownership read by the market as an obstacle to the company's future. Morais, meanwhile, has rebuilt the loyalty offer as Better Rewards, launched an insurance business and started selling funeral policies. Group revenue rose 9.3% in the year to end-February.
One piece of housekeeping shows how quickly the seat emptied: ordinary resolution 4.1 will no longer be tabled at the annual general meeting on 31 July. The question for the shareholders gathering that day is whether a retailer can keep a founder's instincts once the founders have stopped coming to work.
