| Mon 19 Jul 2010, 7:30 | | FBR - Famous Brands Limited - Famous Brands celebrates world cup win |
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FBR
FBR
FBR - Famous Brands Limited - Famous Brands celebrates world cup win
Famous Brands Limited
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
Registration number: 1969/004875/06
Share Code: FBR
ISIN: ZAE000053328
("Famous Brands" or "the Company")
PRESS INFORMATION
OLE - FAMOUS BRANDS CELEBRATES WORLD CUP WIN
Johannesburg; Monday, 19 July 2010: Famous Brands` intensive World Cup project
planning, which started in mid-2009, has paid off handsomely.
System-wide sales across the Group`s South African restaurant network grew 24%
for the month of June compared with the prior year. This increase equates to
83% of turnover delivered in December 2009 - with December typically regarded as
the Group`s peak trading month.
Famous Brands` CEO, Kevin Hedderwick, says: "At the outset of this process we
identified our `non-negotiable` World Cup strategy as being continuity of supply
and consistency of product quality. Our commitment to our franchisees was to
ensure uninterrupted supply, irrespective of the additional volumes that the
Group anticipated having to manage. Our key objective was to facilitate getting
product to market."
"In order to deliver on this commitment we had to implement a range of
strategies, including modifying our logistics distribution pattern from a five
day to a six day rolling week. In addition, we identified potential high volume
sites and made provision for increased deliveries, hiring of additional fleet
and supplying additional staff capacity. At some of our airport- and transient
route sites we seconded our own internal operations staff to assist franchisees
with the increased foot traffic. We also improved our call-and-collect process,
which provided franchisees with additional flexibility in terms of obtaining
product," explains Hedderwick. "The key objective was to ensure that the
integrity of our brands remained intact."
Hedderwick notes that the operations and logistics effort was complemented by
the contribution of the Group`s franchise partners. "Many restaurants extended
trading hours until well after midnight on occasion. They performed brilliantly
to ensure the product reached our customers."
Famous Brands also benefited from its long-standing strategy to ensure brand
representation at airports and en route petroleum sites. Wimpy and Mugg & Bean
are represented at every single major airport in the country, whilst Steers,
Steers Diners, Steers En Route and Wimpy have a strong presence on all major
motorways across the country via the Group`s strategic alliance partners
including Engen, Shell and Total.
Hedderwick notes, "Our brands located on transient sites delivered an average
30% increase in turnover, with some as high as 49%. While comparative
statistics for Durban and Cape Town airports are not available given that
representation is only recent, sales from Group brands situated at O.R. Tambo
grew 64% in June, a phenomenal increase off a large base."
Other high profile sites located near major tourist attractions or fan parks
proved similarly successful. Revenue across the brands at the V&A Waterfront
grew 88% while Group restaurants near Durban`s North Beach fan park delivered
sales growth of 97%. Restaurant sales at Sandton City increased 48%, while
turnover at Melrose Arch grew by an astounding 116%.
In addition, says Hedderwick, the Group`s restaurants situated at casinos around
the country captured a significant share of the tourist influx. Famous Brands`
restaurants at Durban`s Sun Coast Casino grew turnover 118%, while MonteCasino
in Gauteng and the Boardwalk in Port Elizabeth enjoyed increased revenue of 75%
and 126% respectively.
Hedderwick says that restaurants in some of the smaller outlying towns also
profited from soccer matches in their regions. Sales improved between 19% and
30% in Nelspruit, Rustenburg and Polokwane.
While Famous Brands` restaurants benefited from strategic sites, the Group`s
marketing campaigns were also designed to raise the profile of brand usage
during World Cup festivities. Debonairs Pizza launched its `Watch soccer, eat
Pizza` campaign aimed at local fans making use of the home delivery option and
enjoying the games from their homes. The brand`s national sales increased 25%
compared with June 2009. Wimpy`s "Impi" breakfast campaign achieved cult status
when its television advert became a viral marketing sensation on a number of
social networking sites. Sales grew 22% for the month of June. Despite
competing with an official global sponsor, the Group`s mother brand, Steers,
delivered sales growth of 23%, while Mugg & Bean and tashas grew revenue by 27%
and 75% respectively.
Hedderwick comments, "The first two weeks of July displayed a similar trend in
sales growth to the month of June, although with fewer teams and fewer venues in
contention, it is inevitable that a smaller percentage of our restaurants would
have benefited. I am confident however that sales growth will have held up well
for the period."
Hedderwick says that he expects the second half of July to be quiet - similar to
the traditional post-December holiday period. Given the anticipated drop in
foot traffic, he notes that Steers, Wimpy and Debonairs Pizza will all be
launching aggressive marketing campaigns using menu innovation and attractive
pricing in order to drive feet into restaurants post-World Cup.
Hedderwick concludes: "Tourists were pleasantly surprised and delighted at the
standard of our restaurant offerings - this World Cup event has proved that we
can benchmark ourselves against the best in the world when it comes to our
brands. I am proud of, and extremely grateful to our franchise partners who
delivered these remarkable results, together with our own Supply Chain division,
as well as 3rd party suppliers, who never dropped a catch during this
exceptionally busy trading period. They did our brands and our country proud."
ends
For further information:
Kevin Hedderwick Del-Maree English
Chief Executive Officer Investor Communications
Famous Brands Ltd Mobile: 083 395 8608
Telephone: 011 651 5812
Famous Brands JSE code: FBR
Famous Brands` website: www.famousbrands.co.za
Date: 19/07/2010 07:30:01 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
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