Retrenchments loom at Sun International
· Citizen
Gaming operator Sun International has embarked on a so-called Section 189A retrenchment process across its business.
In response to a query from Moneyweb, it confirmed that only the Golden Valley (Worcester), Meropa (Polokwane), Windmill (Bloemfontein) and Flamingo (Kimberley) properties are affected. These are the group’s four smallest casinos.
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Last year, Meropa and Windmill reported adjusted operating profits (R32 million and R15 million respectively), while Golden Valley and Flamingo were loss-making (R8 million and R7 million respectively).
By comparison, its total urban casino division reported operating profit of R1.3 billion.
The review, says Sun International, “responds to sustained pressure between revenue performance and operating costs at the selected properties”.
“The aim is to improve profitability and long-term sustainability.”
Union rejects retrenchments
The move has been rejected by the South African Commercial Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu), which is the largest organised labour representative across Sun International’s employee base.
Although the union only met with the group on 8 July, it argues that “departments within the company have already undergone retrenchments, while other departments have been scheduled for retrenchment, before meaningful consultations with organised labour have been concluded”.
Sun International has not formally announced that a Section 189 process is underway, and no Sens announcement has been published to date. It says that “as the process is underway, it would be premature to communicate outcomes externally”.
Under Paragraph 3.4(a) of the JSE Listings Requirements, issuers are legally bound to announce material price-sensitive information.
Miners, retailers and industrial producers routinely release Sens updates at the start, during and at the conclusion of Section 189 processes, given that these are easily able to be defined as material enough to impact a company’s financial position, earnings and, therefore, its share price.
The group says it has not issued any update to the market as “no material outcome has been confirmed”.
“If disclosure is required, Sun International will follow the appropriate governance and regulatory processes.”
Legal remedies…
Saccawu says it is “considering every legal remedy available, including approaching the Labour Court for urgent relief to interdict the retrenchment process until the employer complies fully with both the letter and spirit of Section 189A”.
“The union will also pursue every appropriate legal, regulatory and constitutional remedy available to protect workers from unlawful dismissals and procedural injustice.”
The union has also called on all provincial gambling and gaming boards “to urgently investigate whether Sun International continues to comply with the employment, transformation and public-interest undertakings upon which its gaming licences were granted or renewed”.
Bengtsson reshapes leadership
New Sun International CEO Ulrik Bengtsson, who was recruited to “drive a digital-focused strategy with an emphasis on increasing revenue”, has reshaped the group’s executive management team considerably since taking over on 1 July 2025.
Leslie Peters was appointed chief technology and product officer at the start of this year, with Nomzamo Radebe and Mark Sergeant joining the business as COOs in February 2026.
Radebe leads its hospitality and sales efforts, while Sergeant oversees its land-based casinos. Sergeant was previously managing director of Genting Casinos in the UK.
Nthabi Motsoeneng took over as chief marketing officer in June.
Saccawu says it is “concerned by the broader strategic direction of Sun International under foreign executive leadership”.
“At a time when South Africa faces persistently high unemployment, particularly among young people, it is deeply troubling that one of the country’s flagship tourism and gaming companies is led by a foreign chief executive officer while simultaneously reducing employment opportunities for South African workers.”
Employee costs under pressure
The group says it expects to report revenue growth of “approximately 6%” for the first six months of 2026, as it made “good progress against its value creation plan”.
At the end of December 2025, Sun International employed 7 222 people across its nine casinos, two resorts, one hotel, and its Sunbet and Sun Slots operations. This is an increase from the 7 057 at the end of 2024.
It would not be drawn on the number of potentially affected employees, saying only that “it would be wrong to speculate while consultation is underway”.
Employee costs remain the group’s single biggest expense. In 2025, this line item was R2.6 billion out of expenses totalling R10.5 billion.
This was greater even than levies and value-added tax on casino income paid to the state (R2.4 billion).
Pay increases across the group averaged 5% in 2025, with adjustments for Saccawu members being 5.5% for Tier 1 employees, 6% for Tier 2 and 6.5% for Tier 3 (compared to 2024 levels of 7%, 7.5%, and 8% respectively).
Echoes of Covid-era cuts
The last time the group undertook a Section 189 process was in June 2020, following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and harsh lockdown restrictions.
The group says this “impacted Sun City, The Maslow Sandton, Boardwalk, The Table Bay, The Wild Coast Sun, Meropa, Windmill, Flamingo, Golden Valley, Naledi Sun and The Carousel”.
That process ultimately affected 2 195 employees across the business.
Prior to this (in 2019), it had a total employee count of 9 340. The Section 189 process yielded an estimated annual cost saving of R291 million for Sun International.
This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.