Famous Brands flags 76% jump in interim local sales

FAMOUS Brands, the Johannesburg-headquartered food services franchisor, yesterday flagged a 76 percent jump in South African sales for the half-year ended in August, marking an uptick compared to a year ago when the Covid-19 pandemic severely disrupted the business.

Famous Brands, whose brands include fast-food outlets Wimpy and Debonairs Pizza, said on a like-for-like basis South African sales increased by about 72 percent.

Like-for-like sales refers to sales reported by all restaurants across the network, excluding restaurants opened or permanently closed during the period.

“Overall, the group’s results for the six months ended August 31, 2021, are expected to show a marked recovery on the comparative period, which was severely impacted by the pandemic,” said Famous Brands.

It said its South African signature brands’ system-wide sales increased by 36 percent, while like-for-like sales increased by approximately 149 percent. The group’s signature brands offer a personalised dining experience and include Lupa Osteria, Mythos and Paul.

The Famous Brands portfolio consists of 19 restaurant brands, represented by 2 773 restaurants across South Africa, the rest of Africa and the Middle East (AME), and the UK.

It said system-wide sales in the AME region increased by approximately 15 percent.

The group sales from its retail division, which focuses on supplying third-party retailers and wholesalers with branded licensed products, increased to R105 million from R72m in 2020.

“The group’s performance recovered in varying degrees across our trading markets, being South Africa, AME and the UK, from the Covid pandemic’s worst financial impacts, compared to the prior comparative period,” said the group.

Its recovery was slowed by the civil unrest experienced in South Africa in July and as the lockdown restrictions related to the pandemic’s third wave.