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