Franchise Brands aiming for £1bn market value, says Stifel
Current market cap is around £290m, but opportunities exist says the broker
Company
LON:FRAN
Franchise Brands PLC is an international, multi-brand franchisor focused on building market-leading businesses primarily via a franchise model. The company has a combined network of over 625 franchisees across seven franchise brands in ten countries covering the UK, North America and Europe. Franchise Brands' focus is on B2B van-based reactive and planned services. The company owns several market-leading brands with long trading histories, including Pirtek in Europe, Filta, Metro Rod and Metro Plumb, all of which benefit from the group's central support services, particularly technology, marketing and finance.
80 stories
Current market cap is around £290m, but opportunities exist says the broker
Company is looking for more acquisitions after integration of Metro Rod
The consideration is £200mln to be met through a combination of a placing, debt and shares.
Filta is seeing strong activity in North America driven by the elevated price of cooking oil, which is boosting demand for its Filta Fry process that can double its useful life
Mallows has significant experience in franchising and business development
From 2016 until recently Brattesani was UK Head of Franchise at HSBC, the market leader in the UK franchise sector with an extensive client base including many of the largest franchise brands
Drain maintenance businesses Metro Rod and Metro Plumb led the way
Willow Pumps was acquired by Franchise Brands in 2019
"Overall, the group is trading well, and the board looks forward to the rest of the year with considerable confidence," said the group's chair, Stephen Hemsley
Full details on how to accept the offer are set out in the offer document, a copy of which is available on Franchise Brands' website
The deal was approved by shareholders on Monday and valid acceptances of the shares was been received on Tuesday
The existing businesses have started the new year on the front foot, with continuing sales growth reported in the B2B division and steady recruitment in the B2C division
“The enlarged group will have a strong balance sheet, with a high level of liquidity, putting it in a strong position to support our franchisees, invest in the business and our people, pursue a progressive dividend policy and take advantage
The Metro Rod drainage business broke through £50mln of system sales in 2021
The company's shares ended December 6 priced at 146p, marking a 48.2% rise in the year-to-date
The company has been working with Azura Group Ltd since 2018
Commercial drainage business Metro Rod's sales jumped 32%
"We are confident that the full year performance will be ahead of current consensus market expectations," said executive chair Stephen Hemsley
The firm is to deliver a full-year performance at least in line with market expectations
You might say that Metro Rod and Metro Plumb are plumbing new heights
A glance at some of the day's highlights from the Proactive Investors newswire
Underlying earnings grew by almost a quarter in the first three months of the year
“We look forward to the remainder of 2021 with confidence,” said chairman Stephen Hemsley
The company believes it has the correct strategy to thrive in the post-pandemic environment
The company said its B2B division, which includes its portfolio of drainage, plumbing and pump brands, had seen sales grow by an average of 8% per month from June onwards as the UK economy emerged from lockdown
Turnover was boosted by the acquisition of Willow Pumps
The firm said it expected its B2B division, which includes Metro Rod, Metro Plumb and Willow Pumps, to continue to trade profitably during the coronavirus lockdown
“We do expect to remain profitable overall, albeit at lower levels than originally anticipated"
Franchise Brands said trading in the current year has started well
Drain maintenance group Metro Rod led the improvement with 14% higher sales
The water pump supply, installation and servicing business will complement the services provided by Metro Rod, acquired two years ago
Archive
A glance at some of the day's highlights from the Proactive Investors newswire
Franchise acquired Metro Rod a couple of years ago, and it is now starting to reap the reward of its hefty investment in the business
Investments and investor services
A look at the day's major movers, including Quadrise, Intu Properties, Mediazest, Upland Resources, MX Oil and Angling Direct
Archive
A glance at some of the day's highlights from the Proactive Investors newswire
Stephen Hemsley, chairman of the AIM-listed firm, said the franchise network had grown sales by 12% in the period compared to 10.4% growth in the whole of its 2018 fiscal year
Investments and investor services
The UK blue-chip index finished up around 63 points at 7,523
Investments and investor services
A look at the day's major movers, including Quartix, LiDCO, Convatec, PPHE, Boku and Coral Products
Archive
A glance at some of the day's highlights from the Proactive Investors newswire
Archive
The UK's premier index closed up nearly 19 points at 7,169, while FTSE 250 added over 96 at 8,896
A look at the day's major movers, including Modern Water, Dev Clever, Red Emperor, 88 Energy, Pantheon Resources, Manx Telecom and Burford Capital
Archive
A glance at some of the day's highlights from the Proactive Investors newswire
"2018 has been a period of significant change for the team at Franchise Brands as we have integrated Metro Rod and further developed our shared support services of IT, finance, marketing and franchisee recruitment," said executive chairman,
The January US Durable Goods Orders and Shipments Report showed that business equipment investment got off to a sluggish start this year, Berenberg Capital Markets noted
A look at the day's major movers, including Redde, Gattaca, Webis, Mobile Streams, Beeks, Nuformix and Interserve
Archive
A glance at some of the day's highlights from the Proactive Investors newswire
The UK's blue chip index closed down nearly 44 points at 7,107. Meanwhile, mid-cap cousin FTSE 250 fell more than 116 at 19,513
Archive
A glance at some of the day's highlights from the Proactive Investors newswire
Investments and investor services
A look at the day's major movers, including Elegant Hotels, Mears Group, Spire Healthcare, 7digital and Mirada
"The investment we are making in the business systems is already delivering improvements, with sustained benefits expected to be realised over the longer term at Metro Rod," the company said
Investments and investor services
FTSE 100 closed 40 points higher at 6,895, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 closed around 12 up at 18,429.
Investments and investor services
A look at the day's major movers, including ReNeuron, 7digital, Glenveagh, Gear4Music, Reach and McColl's
Archive
A glance at some of the day's highlights from the Proactive Investors newswire
The group expects the programme will offset the dilution caused by employee share issues
MetroRod has been in operation for 30 years but only became a franchise relatively recently
A look at some of the top risers and fallers in London today
Archive
A glance at some of the day's highlights from the Proactive Investors newswire
Investments and investor services
Sterling's fall was good news for the Footsie's many big dollar earners
Archive
A glance at some of the day's highlights from the Proactive Investors newswire
A look at some of the biggest risers and fallers in London on Thursday
As the Beast from the East thawed it was the busiest period ever dealing with cracked pipes
The Nasdaq on Wall Street is down over 88 points at the time of writing, at 7,420.
Archive
Three of the 10 largest London-listed companies (by capitalisation) are updating the market on Thursday. A dozen or more other household names are also expected to report.
Archive
Over the five sessions in the Week Ahead, around 20% of the FTSE 100 index will report results or issue a trading update, with about half that number due on Thursday alone
A strong central infrastructure is key to what is, in effect, a classic buy and build strategy
Investments and investor services
The Kurdistan oil and gas business releases its results on Thursday, while investors will be hoping to see continued momentum for the fashion retailer.
Archive
The week ahead includes policy announcements from the Bank of England and Federal Reserve along with corporate earnings from Bellway, Next, Ted Baker, Kingfisher and Wood Group
Some of the largest rises and fallers at 3pm: Frontera, Franchise Brands, Starcom