PRET A MANGER PREPARES TO FLOAT IN NEW YORK

Pret a Manger was founded by college friends Julian Metcalfe and Sinclair Beecham in 1986

The pair took out a £17,500 loan and opened their first store near London’s Victoria Station

In 2008 it was sold to private equity firm Bridgepoint

Pret now has 444 stores. Its customers ate 5m avocados in 2015

Last year it sold 16m croissants - the equivalent to one every two seconds

Unsold food is given to charities at the end of each day

Pret’s staff can hand free coffee to customers. Last year it gave away 1.7m

SANDWICH chain Pret A Manger is preparing for a stock market listing in New York.

The London-based firm has been rapidly expanding overseas, and said earlier this year that half of its new stores would be outside the UK.

Last year it opened 50 outlets, including sites in the US, France, Hong Kong, Dubai and China.

Private equity firm Bridgepoint, which bought Pret for £420m in 2008, is believed to have chosen New York to raise the chain’s profile in the US. The group posted record results in 2016, with sales up 15pc to £776.2m, while profit grew 11pc to £93.2m. It was thought that Bridgepoint would sell a portion of Pret, but has not made a final decision over whether to press ahead with the flotation.

A spokesman said: ‘We are always exploring appropriate opportunities to ensure the future growth of the company. If such opportunities materialise, we will update the market.’