{"id":860637,"date":"2026-05-19T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=860637"},"modified":"2026-05-19T15:51:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:51:55","slug":"big-payday-for-steers-wimpy-and-debonairs-boss-in-south-africa-earning-r38200-every-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/860637\/big-payday-for-steers-wimpy-and-debonairs-boss-in-south-africa-earning-r38200-every-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Big payday for Steers, Wimpy, and Debonairs boss in South Africa \u2013 earning R38,200 every day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Famous Brands has reported strong results for its 2026 financial year, with its executives getting paid handsomely for the food service franchisor\u2019s performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Famous Brands released its results for the year through February 2026 on Monday, 18 May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results revealed that Famous Brands\u2019 Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Darren Hele earned R13.963 million for the year. This roughly works out to R1.164 million a month or R38,255 a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the notable earnings, Hele\u2019s remuneration increased by only 1.48% to R13.759 million from R13.759 million in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His total remuneration package for 2026 included a base salary of R5.827 million, R4.099 million in bonuses, R538,000 in pension fund contributions, and R3.499 million in other benefits and payments.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company\u2019s other executive, group financial director, Nelisiwe Shiluvana, received R6.960 million for the 2026 financial year. This works out to R580,000 a month or R19,068 a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite being paid considerably less than Hele, her total remuneration for 2026 is 18.67% higher than the R5.865 million received in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These remuneration figures are underpinned by a strong performance, with a 5.6% increase in revenue to R8.74 billion and a 4.5% increase in operating profit to R955.08 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group reported a profit of R653.53 million for the year, marking an 11.8% increase from the 2025 financial year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its basic earnings per share grew by 9.69% to 600 cents, while headline earnings per share increased by 12.12% to 583 cents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This strong financial performance was driven by the company\u2019s Supply Chain division, which grew revenue to R6.18 billion, up 7.21%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of its restaurant business, the company\u2019s Leading Brands portfolio grew revenue by 5.95% to R1.03 billion. This segment\u2019s operating profit increased by 4.95% to R541.85 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Famous Brands\u2019 Leading Brands include Steers, Debonairs Pizza, Fishaways, Mugg and Bean, Wimpy, and Milky Lane. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its Signature Brands\u2019 revenue was up 1.77% to R201.84 million, but deepened its operating loss to R10.59 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its Signature Brands include Turn n Tender, Fego, Salsa Mexican Grill, Mythos, Vovo Telo, NetCafe, Coffee Couture, Lupa, and Paul. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plans to expand <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Looking ahead, Famous Brands said it will direct its investment towards delivery channels, smaller-format restaurants, and drive-thrus to meet sustained demand for convenience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur restaurant pipeline is healthy, with interest from both new and existing franchise partners,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company also plans to expand its presence in the Southern African Development Community, the Rest of Africa, and the Middle East (AME), with a focus on selected priority markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the reporting year, Famous Brands restructured its AME management team to reduce costs, including bringing its Dubai operations back to South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are bullish on our prospects in Malaysia, following the opening of a combo Steers and Debonairs Pizza restaurant in December 2025,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This opening was done in partnership with MESRA, a wholly owned subsidiary of PETRONAS Dagangan Berhad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group is also investing in its Supply Chain division, with an eye on improving efficiency and customer service to its franchise partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAcross the Supply Chain, the group is well-positioned to leverage its strengthened infrastructure to drive improved productivity and profitability while servicing a larger franchise network,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur strategy remains resilient and flexible in a constrained operating environment. Our model is underpinned by franchise partners who remain agile and committed to reinvestment in our brands,\u201d said CEO Hele. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA continued focus on efficiency and cost discipline is expected to support the quality of our earnings and our long-term sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that the company intends to continue with its capital allocation priorities of earnings distribution, a share buyback programme, paying down debt, and investing in business growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the back of these results, Famous Brands declared a final dividend of 220 cents per share, adding to the interim dividend of 162 cents it declared in August 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Famous Brands has reported strong results for its 2026 financial year, with its executives getting paid handsomely for the food service franchisor\u2019s performance. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":860649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[10215,10789,853,9812,5812],"class_list":["post-860637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-debonairs","tag-famous-brands","tag-south-africa","tag-steers","tag-wimpy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860637"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":860791,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860637\/revisions\/860791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}