Bill Lynch steps down

Lauded South African motor industry entrepreneur Bill Lynch this week announced that he would vacate his position as chief executive of Imperial Holdings.

Lauded South African motor industry entrepreneur Bill Lynch this week announced that he would vacate his position as chief executive of Imperial Holdings.

Lynch, who was one of the leading speakers at the CAR Conference of 2004, has achieved legendary status for building up a small motor retailer into a major diversified multinational group over a period of nearly four decades.

The man who defeated high profile entrants from 31 countries to be voted Ernst and Young World Entrepeneur of the Year in 2006 – the first time a SA businessman had scooped the title in the award programme’s 20-year history – and his wife Ann arrived in South Africa from Ireland in 1971 with barely enough money to survive the first few months in the country. After cold calling a few potential employers, Lynch was hired by a failing motor dealership, Imperial, which has transformed into one of the country’s leading industrial groups, employing 36 000 people, under his leadership.

Lynch’s decision to step down is not altogether surprising, however. Although he recently made a complete recovery from a serious illness, Imperial Holdings announced at the end of August last year the appointment of a deputy chief executive and two new executive directors, after Lynch announced his intention “to delegate more of his operational responsibilities to focus on broader strategic and growth opportunities for the group”.

He’ll stay on as a non-executive deputy chairperson of Imperial and has repeatedly stressed that he was committed to the group for the long haul. His early departure, at 62, means that the group’s chairman Leo Boyd, who was due to retire when he turned 70 this year, will now stay on an extra year.

Imperial announced that a successor to Lynch would be sought both externally and from the existing top management, but according to a report, Hafiz Mahomed (55), Lynch’s current deputy and chief financial officer, has asked not to be considered.

Imperial Holdings on Wednesday reported a 21 per cent rise in headline earnings per share for the second-half of 2006. Revenue grew 29 per cent to R33,4 billion, while attributable profit was 25 per cent higher at R1,599 billion.

Operating profit was 17 per cent better at R2,5 billion, but reportedly declined in distributorships where “the weaker rand impacted negatively on margins”. A spokesman for the group attributed the slowdown in vehicle sales growht to a 2 per cent increase in South Africa’s prime overdraft rate.

Growth in demand for Imperial’s other services, namely logistics, vehicle leasing, car rental, tourism and vehicle related financial services remained strong.

Looking further ahead, Lynch said he remained optimistic about Imperial and was confident that it would maintain its recent record and double again in size in the next five years.