Rhulani Nhlaniki took over as chief executive of Adcock Ingram on 1 August, succeeding Andy Hall, who had led the pharmaceutical manufacturer since November 2015. Nhlaniki joins from Pfizer, where he was most recently regional therapeutic area lead for vaccines across the Middle East, Russia, Africa and Turkey.
He inherits a company in the middle of a change of ownership. Under a transaction implementation agreement announced in July 2025, India’s NATCO Pharma is to acquire every Adcock Ingram share not held by Bidvest through a scheme of arrangement. The company will then be delisted from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and operate as a privately held business with Bidvest as controlling shareholder. Completion remains subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals.
Trading has held up in the interim. Bidvest reported Adcock Ingram revenue of just under R10bn for the year to June, down 0.5%, while trading profit rose 9.4% to R1.3bn with every division recording profit growth. Average price realisation came in at 1.8%, volumes grew 0.9%, and operating expenses increased 1.2%.
| Measure | Year to June 2026 |
|---|---|
| Revenue | Just under R10bn, down 0.5% |
| Trading profit | R1.3bn, up 9.4% |
| Average price realisation | 1.8% |
| Single exit price increase | 1.47% |
| Volume growth | 0.9% |
| Operating expense growth | 1.2% |
| Divisions in profit growth | All |
| Headline earnings per share (FY2025) | 625.6c, up 1.5% |
Margin improvement came from stronger factory recoveries, a more favourable portfolio mix and the exit of lower-margin products, with the repatriation of certain portfolios moderating revenue growth. The expense outcome is the more notable figure, holding cost growth well below the rate at which prices could be raised.
That constraint frames the job. The single exit price increase granted for the year was 1.47%, below inflation, and the mechanism limits both the size and the frequency of price adjustments on registered medicines. Adcock Ingram has responded by pushing into unregulated categories, including consumer and baby care lines, where pricing is set commercially rather than by regulation.
Nhlaniki brings more than 25 years across South Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and international markets. He joined Pfizer in 2016 as innovative health cluster lead for sub-Saharan Africa, later becoming cluster lead for the region and country manager for South Africa, before moving to London as vaccines lead for the United Kingdom in July 2022. He worked at GSK earlier in his career and studied at North-West University.
His industry roles add a further dimension. He has served as president of the Innovative Pharmaceutical Association of South Africa and as deputy chairperson of the Pharmaceutical Task Group. IPASA represents research-based multinational manufacturers, a different constituency from the generics and over-the-counter producers that Adcock Ingram sits among, and whose interests are largely carried by the National Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers. The appointment therefore imports originator-side regulatory and stakeholder relationships into a company on the other side of that divide, at a point when its majority owner is preparing to hand a minority stake to an Indian generics group.
Adcock Ingram traces its origins to the E J Adcock Pharmacy, opened in Krugersdorp in 1890. Headquartered in Midrand, it operates through prescription, over-the-counter, consumer and hospital divisions across three South African production sites, and holds joint venture interests in National Renal Care and Adcock Ingram India. Equity-accounted earnings from those ventures were R172.5m in the 2025 financial year, 20.7% higher than the previous year.
Bidvest took control of Adcock Ingram in 2022 and has since explored selling its stake to a black-owned consortium, with the size of the holding, valued at around R4.8bn, proving a constraint. Bidvest chief executive Nompumelelo Madisa chairs the Adcock Ingram board.