The Poultry Division, which had reported a R283m loss in the prior period, returned to profitability, driving the turnaround. Credit: AlexanderLipko/Shutterstock.

South African poultry producer Astral Foods has named Gary Arnold as its new CEO.

Arnold will step into the role from 1 February 2025, according to a stock exchange filing.

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He has been the group’s chief operating officer and an executive director since 2012, and has spent 28 years working for the company.

Arnold will succeed Chris Schutte, who announced his retirement earlier this year. Schutte plans to step down from the company on 30 January 2025.

Having worked alongside Schutte for several years, Arnold “has extensive experience and an in-depth understanding of our integrated business model,” the company said in the filing.

It added: “The board is confident that, under his leadership, Astral will continue to build on maintaining its position as South Africa’s leading integrated poultry producer”.

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Schutte oversaw the business in good times and bad, including what the company described as “the lowest point in Astral Foods’ proud history” in 2023, as it battled multiple headwinds.

A “devastating” year saw it face a mixture of power outages, or load-shedding, bird flu and high feed costs.

In November last year, Astral recorded an annual loss of R512.2m (then $27.8m) for the 12 months to the end of September 2023, but since then Schutte and his executive team have instigated a turnaround strategy, which so far looks successful.

In a statement following Schutte’s retirement announcement, the company said: “Following the worst financial period in the group’s history for the year ended 30 September 2023, Astral is currently in a solid and healthy financial position. This is due to the successful implementation of a focused turnaround strategy in the 2024 financial year.”

The company’s recovery programme is focused on what the company has called Project 3R – to re-set, re-focus and re-start the business.

Plans included maintaining emergency back-up generator capacity at all its operations to cope when state-run energy supplies cut out, as they have done regularly in recent times.