Spur Corporation Ltd (JSE: SUR) is one of South Africa’s leading franchise business and the owner of homegrown Spur Steak Ranches - a themed family favorite fondly known as "the official restaurant of the South African family." Earlier in the year, the Company produced sizzling interim results, gave a bountiful dividend to shareholders, and as it said it was “cautiously optimistic about trading for the remainder of the financial year.”
OVERVIEW:
Established in 1967, Spur Corporation is one of South Africa’s leading franchise business models. The Group offers investors exposure to four of South Africa’s largest and most well-established sit-down restaurant chains – Spur Steak Ranches, Panarottis Pizza Pasta, RocoMamas and John Dory’s Fish, Grill & Sushi. The Hussar Grill, Casa Bella and Nikos Coalgrill Greek add an upmarket chain to our brand portfolio. Virtual Kitchen brands include Just Wingz (Spur Steak Ranches), Pizza Pug, Bento, Reel Sushi, Rib Shack RocoFellas and CharGrill Chicken.
The Company operates a franchise-based business model, with individual restaurants owned and managed by independent, entrepreneurial franchisees. The franchisees fund the development costs of new restaurants, as well as relocations and refurbishments.
While it’s presence is predominantly in South Africa, Spur Corporation’s global footprint extends to 15 countries including Australasia, Mauritius, the Middle East, and a growing multitude of countries in Africa including Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The Group’s sauce factory manufactures the brands’ unique sauces, which are sold to franchisees. A range of over 25 retail sauces are produced by external parties under licence and are sold in leading supermarket chains nationally. These include the popular Durky Sauce, the Spur Salad Dressing fondly known to consumers as the ‘pink sauce’.
Allen Ambor is the colourful character who started a South African institution - Spur! The greatest family restaurant in the country’s history comes from the imagination and great work ethic of a man whose family narrowly escaped the Holocaust, and who developed a taste for life during his wild years of surfing, travelling and making a great steak. From his first restaurant in Newlands, to the corporate franchise juggernaut, Allen Ambor has much to look back on and share.
The increase in power outages and scheduled load shedding, estimated at 208 days** in 2022, placed pressure on franchisee operating costs with higher diesel and generator maintenance costs due to the continuous usage of generators. At 31 December 2022, 90% of restaurants had generators or were linked to shopping mall central generators. This has increased to 95% at the date of this report, ensuring that the majority of the group’s restaurants continue to trade during load shedding, providing our customers with a consistent dining experience. The remaining stores that are unable to install generators due to space and landlord constraints are currently evaluating alternate power solutions.
Water shortages in rural areas such as Harrismith and parts of the Eastern Cape have added further trading pressures.
The impact of load shedding on food manufacturing and farming production has placed severe pressure on the restaurant supply chain. With advance planning and the support of reliable suppliers and distribution partners, the group traded successfully over the peak holiday season when volumes were at their highest. In addition, as the brands offer a wider range of protein and other menu choices, the national chicken shortage experienced in South Africa over the past four months only had a marginal impact on the group.
Markets on Friday welcomed Spur Corporation’s sizzling results, bountiful dividend to shareholders and as it said it was “cautiously optimistic about trading for the remainder of the financial year”.
Headline earnings rose by a massive 191% to R112m with the group declaring a dividend of 82c per share, about 67% higher than the prior period.
Due to the stellar performance, the group hiked its interim dividend more than two-thirds year on year to 82c, amounting to R74.62m. The dividend has been declared from income reserves.
Spur Group CEO Val Nichas said: “Increased tourism in the Western Cape contributed to our sales growing by 31% in the province. We also experienced strong growth in restaurants in high-traffic national locations, such as OR Tambo International Airport, and major shopping malls, including Canal Walk, V&A Waterfront, and the Mall of Africa.”
It said consumer disposable income among the group’s core middle-income target market was likely to reduce further as a result of higher food, fuel, and electricity costs, rising interest rates and persistent load shedding.
During the past six months the group opened 18 restaurants locally - seven Spur, five RocoMamas, four The Hussar Grill and two Panarottis stores - while nine local restaurants closed due to the current difficult trading conditions.
The group’s international growth strategy gained momentum as four new restaurants opened, with two RocoMamas in Ghana and one in India, and a Panarottis outlet in Nigeria. Following the opening of the first restaurant in the Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this month, the group now has a presence in 14 countries.
Nichas said 17 new restaurants are planned to open in the second half of the financial year.
The claim relates to a rib supply and processing facility the GPS Food Group established in Cape Town in about 2017. The damages comprise alleged capital expenditure, start-up losses, and projected operating losses for the five-year period ended November 2022.
It added that GPS alleges that an oral agreement was concluded between GPS and the Spur Corporation on or about 2 February 2017, in terms of which the parties would establish a joint venture to acquire, develop and manage a rib processing facility.
“No written agreement was ever executed with GPS. GPS further alleges that on or about 28 January 2019, the group repudiated the alleged oral agreement and claims damages of R183.3 million comprising alleged capital expenditure, start-up losses and projected operating losses for a five-year period ended November 2022,” it said.
Spur Corporation has delivered a strong full-year performance, despite challenging economic conditions. The owner of Panarottis and RocoMamas posted revenue growth of 32.5% as restaurants benefited from an end to curfew, and a 30% jump in headline earnings. Business Day TV spoke to Spur’s CEO Val Nichas for more detail.
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Spur Corporation acquires control of rival restaurant chain Doppio Zero
- Spur Corporation is taking a 60% stake in the Doppio Group, owners of the speciality restaurant brands Doppio Zero, a further indication of the recovery of Spur since the lows of the Covid pandemic.
- The acquisition, the price of which was not disclosed, did not appear to set the market alight, as Spur’s share price increased only 0.43% to R23.60 on the JSE by late yesterday afternoon.
Spur Corporation acquires control of rival restaurant chain Doppio Zero
- Spur Corporation is taking a 60% stake in the Doppio Group, owners of the speciality restaurant brands Doppio Zero, a further indication of the recovery of Spur since the lows of the Covid pandemic.
- The acquisition, the price of which was not disclosed, did not appear to set the market alight, as Spur’s share price increased only 0.43% to R23.60 on the JSE by late yesterday afternoon.
https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/companies/spur-corporation-acquires-control-of-rival-restaurant-chain-doppio-zero-d9ddf5bd-6c08-4d79-a0c9-7185bcf7a097