How Omnia Turned The Tide

Diversified chemicals group Omnia Holdings has rebounded. Its results for the year ended 31 March 2020 showed an operating profit of R789 million, up from R24 million in 2019. Headline earnings per share were positive, net debt was down, and R2,2 billion in cash was generated. CEO Seelan Gobalsamy, who took office last year, spoke to Sabrina Dean.

- Sabrina Dean

How would you describe the state that Omnia was in when you were appointed CEO in September 2019?

The company was in a precarious situation, as a number of issues had converged to create the perfect storm. In prior years, Omnia had undergone significant expansion through acquisitions funded by debt. When cash flows declined on the back of a suppressed economic environment and a drought-stricken agriculture sector last year, we forecast that we needed to make drastic changes to meet our debt obligations and were hence forced to obtain a R6,8 billion bridging loan while our team and I addressed how best to stabilise the balance sheet. This resulted in a R2 billion rights issue and negotiation of R4,8 billion structured debt facilities. In parallel, we executed a turnaround plan, reducing cost, working capital and capital expenditure significantly. While we’ve made good progress in our turnaround plan, there’s still a lot of hard work to do over the next few years, which will generate more value.

How have you experienced your first months as CEO at the company?

In the 2019 PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Global Crisis Survey, respondents listed liquidity issues, technological failure, and operational disruption as the top three most disruptive crises that businesses faced or were worried about. At Omnia, we had to manage all three within 12 months: a liquidity problem, which led to a rights issue and debt restructure; load-shedding, which disrupted operations, followed by a ransomware cyberattack; and the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disrupted global supply chains and changed the way business is conducted worldwide.