TIDMFRAN

RNS Number : 0758E

Franchise Brands PLC

05 July 2021

5 July 2021

FRANCHISE BRANDS PLC

("Franchise Brands", "the Group" or "the Company")

Trading Update and Notice of Interim Results

Record-breaking system sales at Metro Rod

Franchise Brands plc (AIM: FRAN), a multi-brand franchise business, provides the following trading update for the six-month period ended 30 June 2021.

The Board is pleased with the progress the Group has made over the past six months. As the country has thankfully progressed out of lockdown with the successful vaccination programme, our franchisees have continued to serve our underlying customers.

System sales at Metro Rod have returned to their strong pre-COVID growth levels, increasing by 21% compared to H1 2020 and 17% compared to H1 2019. This represents record system sales of GBP23.8m for the six-month period (H1 2020: GBP19.7m; H1 2019: GBP20.2m). The growth accelerated during the period as restrictions have been eased resulting in record system sales in June of GBP4.3m, an increase of 41% compared to H1 2020 and 26% compared to H1 2019.

Willow Pumps, which was acquired in October 2019, has a greater exposure to hospitality and was more impacted by lockdown. However, invoiced sales increased by around 9% compared to H1 2020. In addition, Willow Pumps continues to facilitate the growth of pump-related work within Metro Rod, where pumps system sales by our franchisees have increased 159% to GBP0.7m (H1 2020: GBP0.3m).

The B2C division has also performed strongly, and 40 new franchisees have been recruited (H1 2020: 27; H1 2019: 34) taking the number of B2C franchisees to 393 (H1 2020: 389; H1 2019: 394).

Overall, the Group's trading in the first half gives the Board strong confidence in delivering a full year performance at least in line with market expectations and it will provide a further update on current trading and outlook at the time of the half year results.

Notice of results

The interim results for the six-month period ended 30 June 2021 are expected to be announced on 22 July 2021 and the Board looks forward to updating shareholders with further details at that time.

Stephen Hemsley, Executive Chairman of Franchise Brands, commented:

"I have been pleased by the speed at which the demand for our services has grown as the lockdown restrictions have been lifted. Throughout the pandemic I have been particularly encouraged by the resilience of our franchisees. Their entrepreneurial spirit and continued commitment to serve our customers gives me huge confidence in the future of Franchise Brands."

Enquiries:

 
 Franchise Brands plc                                 + 44 (0) 1625 813231 
 Stephen Hemsley, Executive Chairman 
 Chris Dent, Chief Financial Officer 
 Julia Choudhury, Corporate Development Director 
 
 Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser 
  and Joint Broker)                                   +44 (0) 20 3328 5656 
 Jeremy Porter / Liz Kirchner (Corporate Finance) 
  Amrit Nahal (Sales and Corporate Broking) 
 
 Dowgate Capital Limited (Joint Broker)               +44 (0) 20 3903 7715 
 James Serjeant / Colin Climie / Nicholas Chambers 
 
 MHP Communications (Financial PR)                    +44 (0) 20 3128 8100 
 Katie Hunt                                           +44 (0) 7884 494112 
                                                      franchisebrands@mhpc.com 
 

About Franchise Brands plc

Franchise Brands is focused on building market-leading businesses in selected customer segments using primarily a franchise model. The Group currently has a combined network of over 425 franchisees across five principal franchise brands. Our focus is on established brands which can benefit from our shared support services, specialist sector expertise, management experience and group resources.

The Group is organised into a B2B division comprised of Metro Rod, Metro Plumb, and Willow Pumps, and a B2C division that incorporates ChipsAway, Ovenclean and Barking Mad. This divisional organisation of our brands is designed to provide a greater focus and structure to support the strategic development of our B2B and B2C brands.

Each of our brands are leaders in their respective markets and each brand has a long trading history. The combined trading history of all the Group's brands is over 135 years.

Franchise Brands plc employs some 280 people across three principal locations in Macclesfield, Kidderminster and Aylesford.

For further information, visit www.franchisebrands.co.uk.

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy.

END

TSTQLLFBFDLBBBK

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 05, 2021 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)

Franchise Brands (LSE:FRAN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more Franchise Brands Charts.
Franchise Brands (LSE:FRAN)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more Franchise Brands Charts.