Steinhoff International, which owns the Poundland and Dealz chains, as well as a myriad of other household- and general-merchandise retail businesses, has said that it has launched an investigation into accounting irregularities within the company.
The company’s supervisory board, in consultation with the statutory auditors of the company, has approached PwC to perform an independent investigation on the matter, while Markus Jooste, CEO of Steinhoff, has resigned from the company.
‘Steinhoff will update the market as the aforesaid investigation proceeds,’ the company wrote in a statement. ‘The Company will publish the audited 2017 consolidated financial statements when it is in a position to do so. In addition, the Company will determine whether any prior years’ financial statements will need to be restated.’
Executive Chairman
Steinhoff International’s supervisory board has appointed chairman Christo Wiese as executive chairman on a temporary basis, while Pieter Erasmus, the former CEO of Pepkor Group, has joined Wiese in an executive advisory capacity ‘to assist with managing the group’s various retail interests around the world’.
It is not currently clear to what ‘accounting irregularities’ the company is referring in its statement.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
