Famous Brands said it expects its earnings per share to drop by up to 33% in its last interim trading period, as higher fuel prices and interest rates weigh on the fast-food giant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a trading statement released on the Stock Exchange News Service (SENS), the company said it had faced a difficult economic environment in the six months ended 31 August 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Elevated fuel prices arising from the conflict in the Middle East, together with higher interest rates, created a challenging economic environment and adversely affected Group profitability,” the company said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group said it expects Headline Earnings Per Share (HEPS) to be between 205 and 252 cents, compared with 236 cents per share one year ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means the expected change is between a 7% increase and a 13% decline for the group’s latest interim period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Famous Brands is expecting a larger decline in its earnings per share, between 13% and 33%, compared to its 2025 interim period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reported EPS is expected to be between 205 cents and 157 cents per share, representing a decrease of between 13% and 33% when compared to the prior comparable period,” the company said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Famous Brands attributed the decline in HEPS to a R40.9 million goodwill impairment, related to the Retail Group in Botswana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The impairment followed Famous Brands’ 21% reduction in its stake in the company, from a 51% majority to 30%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company said this reduced shareholding was “in line with the Group\u2019s capital-light expansion approach outside South Africa.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The disposal will reduce the Group\u2019s direct exposure to operating losses while maintaining ongoing economic participation in the Botswana market,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said that Retail Group had underperformed relative to its expectations, but it still saw potential in operating in Botswana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said that Retail Group had largely underperformed due to difficult economic conditions in Botswana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite this, Famous Brands said it “continues to see long-term potential in that market, where our brands remain well established and relevant to consumers.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The transaction is expected to be completed in the 2027 financial year, subject to the fulfilment of all conditions precedent, including the required regulatory approvals,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without the sale of its interest in Retail Group, Famous Brands noted that its earnings per share would have been between 199 cents and 247 cents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This would have represented a range of -15.7% to 4.7% for its earnings per share, closer to the group’s expected HEPS for the 2026 interim period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
| <\/td> | Six months ended 31 August 2026<\/strong><\/td>| Six months ended 31 August 2025<\/strong><\/td> | Change %<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> | Earnings per share (cents)<\/td> | 157 \u2013 205<\/td> | 236<\/td> | (-33%) \u2013 (-13%)<\/td><\/tr> | HEPS (cents)<\/td> | 205 \u2013 252<\/td> | 236<\/td> | (-13%) \u2013 (7%)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" | Famous Brands is expecting lower earnings per share for its latest interim period, driven by a disposal from the company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":860646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2110642343871189278","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2237807373706328","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18019655588944487","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[20380,10789,26816],"class_list":["post-879885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-botswana","tag-famous-brands","tag-retail-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879885","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\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=879885"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":879921,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879885\/revisions\/879921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} |