Famous Brands closes eatery in UK
The group keeps the faith but makes provisions in case of more GBK closures
Famous Brands, whose foreign affair has soured, closed a premium burger restaurant in the UK last weekend and has set funds aside in case it decides to close another five outlets in that market. The owner of the Steers and Wimpy brands said on Thursday it had impaired the value of its Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) business in the UK by R373m and made provisions worth another R33m for potential store closures there. "In the current environment in the UK, store closures are unfortunately going to be a feature of the landscape, so we’ve been prudent and provided [but] we’re not rushing out to do it," Famous Brands CEO Darren Hele said. The company bought GBK for £120m (R2bn) in 2016, partly funded with debt. Since the group remains highly geared, with net debt of R2.1bn, it decided not to pay a dividend for the year ended February, in which profits fell even as revenues rose 23% to R7bn. Hele said Famous Brands would probably resume dividend payments once it reduced debt to two times ea...
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