Boral’s Vik Bansal bows out as Stokes’ SGH begins its hunt for a successor

Vik Bansal will depart Boral after several years of strong performance under the ownership of the Stokes family’s SGH conglomerate.

Boral has boosted earnings margins during Vik Bansal’s time leading the building materials provider.

Boral chief executive Vik Bansal will quit the building materials supplier in early 2026 after just three years in the top job, with investors in parent company SGH cautious about the succession process following a period of strong earnings margin growth.

Mr Bansal plans to join the board of SGH, led by Ryan Stokes, with investors rating his ability at Boral to delivering a swift corporate turnaround following several years where the business failed to cash in on the Australian infrastructure boom.

“The massively heavy lifting of the turnaround transformation is done,” Mr Bansal told The Australian. “Boral was always a good company at its core. Companies like Boral don’t go bad. It’s the leadership that’s provided that makes the company go south or north. So it’s a cracking company.”

SGH said it has worked closely with Mr Bansal on a structured succession process, with its concrete and quarries boss Matt McKenzie promoted to the newly created role of Boral chief operating officer.

Fund manager Ten Cap, a shareholder in SGH, said investors would have preferred Mr Bansal to stay, with the leadership vacuum raising some uncertainty over the near-term picture.

“Everyone would love to see him staying on but for the last 12 months there’s been so much speculation about what he might do,” Ten Cap’s Jun Bei Liu said. “It’s always very hard when a very well regarded CEO is leaving. I do know the COO and I think he will be very good. But look, there is always a bit of nervousness when you have change.”

SGH shares fell 2.9 per cent or $1.55 to $52.52.

Mr Bansal joined Boral in late 2022, leading its ‘Good to Great strategy’ program.

At a balance sheet level, Boral’s earnings before interest and tax margin grew to 14.3 per cent in the first half of the 2025 financial year from 5.7 per cent for the same period two years earlier.

Boral’s departing chief Vik Bansal with Seven Group chief executive Ryan Stokes. Picture: John Feder

That level of earnings performance should be the focus rather than the tenure of Mr Bansal’s time at Boral, according to SGH boss Ryan Stokes.

“We are on our way towards a mid-teen EBIT margin target, which we hope to achieve next financial year,” he told The Australian. “It’s quite a substantive journey that’s been a performance which has been delivered.

“The businesses is in a good place and the operating models are clearly defined. From a timing perspective, the time is right from Vik’s perspective.”

Mr Bansal joined Boral from Sanjeev Gupta’s InfraBuild at a difficult time following the construction materials player’s exit from its US business and as inflationary pressures mount on the already under-pressure firm.

His reign prior to that at Cleanaway proved divisive after the waste management company discovered instances of alleged bullying although he escaped without any financial penalty or impact to his career.

The Stokes family’s Seven Group took control of Boral in 2021, and under outgoing CEO Zlatko Todorcevski had begun simplifying the business by selling down more than $4bn worth of North American assets, and cost cutting at the top level.

SGH owns WesTrac, Boral and Coates and also controls 30 per cent of Beach Energy. It wholly owns SGH Energy and has a 40 per cent shareholding in Seven West Media.

Aitken Mount Capital partner Angus Aitken said Mr Bansal had performed at a high level during his time at Boral.

”We have supported Vik Bansal for a long time and done well from him at Cleanaway, Boral and LGI, the landfill gas business we floated,” he said. “The guy is the best industrial leader in Australia who knows not just how to fix a business, but get those businesses to … thrive … just like Cleanaway has. Boral will be the same for Seven Group.”