{"id":880632,"date":"2026-10-21T09:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T07:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=880632"},"modified":"2026-10-21T09:08:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T07:08:16","slug":"40-new-restaurants-for-owner-of-steers-wimpy-and-milky-lane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/880632\/40-new-restaurants-for-owner-of-steers-wimpy-and-milky-lane\/","title":{"rendered":"40 new restaurants for owner of Steers, Wimpy and Milky Lane"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Famous Brands has seen its profits shrink in a difficult economic environment, despite a strong push to expand its footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its latest interim financial results, the company reported approximately R4.3 billion in revenue, 2.3% higher than the same period in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Year-on-year, the fast-food giant’s operating profit dropped from R393 million in the 2025 interim period to R375 million in 2026, a 4.7% decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Famous Brands said the slow growth and decline in profitability were largely due to South Africa’s current economic environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The US-Iran conflict has added to South Africa\u2019s economic pressures by driving up oil and fuel prices, increasing inflation and operating costs,” the group said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Higher transport and energy costs, together with uncertainty around interest rates and economic growth, are making consumers more cautious and increasing demand for value and affordability.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said this difficult economic backdrop had reduced consumers’ discretionary spending on expenses such as dining out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The difficult operating environment and slow revenue growth were reflected in investors’ sentiment, with Headline Earnings Per Share (HEPS) decreasing by 3.2% year-on-year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Famous Brands increased its dividend for the six months ended 31 August 2026 by 4.9%, from 162 cents in the 2025 interim period to 170 cents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While HEPS decreased by only 3.2%, basic earnings per share declined by 23.4%, largely due to a key disposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Famous Brands is selling part of its stake in Retail Group Botswana, reducing its shareholding from a 51% majority to 30%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said the disposal of Retail Group shares aligned with its “capital-light expansion approach outside South Africa.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The transaction, which is expected to be completed by 28 February 2027, will see our existing Botswana-based partners acquiring this shareholding, following implementation of the transaction and fulfilment of all conditions precedent,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Famous Brands previously said<\/a> the disposal was due to Retail Group underperforming amid difficult economic conditions in Botswana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the weaker-than-expected performance, Famous Brands said it still sees potential in the overseas market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said it “continues to see long-term potential in that market, where our brands remain well established and relevant to consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still growing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite the difficult economic conditions in South Africa, Famous Brands expanded its footprint by opening 40 new restaurants and revamping 66 outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the new stores were part of the group’s leading brands division, which includes franchises such as Steers, Debonairs, and Fishaways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

36 new restaurants were opened in this division, which included smaller restaurant formats and drive-thru offerings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said the store openings and new formats were to “meet consumer demand for convenience and accessibility.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the company’s signature brands division, which includes restaurants such as Mythos, Turn n Tender, Paul and Vovo Telo, the net number of stores decreased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group opened four new restaurants in this division, but closed 6 during the interim period, resulting in a net decline in signature brand outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Famous Brands also noted that revenue decreased in this division by 8.4% year-on-year to R95 million and reported an operating loss of R9 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said it had made changes to improve the performance of this segment, but they would likely only be noticed in the 2027 full-year results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Management has taken a range of corrective actions to restore the Signature Brands portfolio to profitability, including management changes, store closures and cost reductions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The impact of these actions is expected to become more evident in our 2027 full-year results,” the company said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Famous Brands interim financial results<\/h2>\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>
Revenue<\/td>R4.34 billion<\/td>R4.24 billion<\/td>2.30%<\/td><\/tr>
Operating Profit<\/td>R375 million<\/td>R393 million<\/td>\u20134.7%<\/td><\/tr>
Basic earnings per share (cents)<\/td>181<\/td>236<\/td>\u201323.4%<\/td><\/tr>
HEPS (cents)<\/td>228<\/td>236<\/td>\u20133.2%<\/td><\/tr>
Dividend (cents)<\/td>170<\/td>162<\/td>4.90%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Famous Brands has seen its profits dip amid a difficult economic environment, but still managed to expand its footprint.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":846188,"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":"2112803199937663131","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2244128049740927","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17923306086449182","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[10789,26816,9812,26862],"class_list":["post-880632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-famous-brands","tag-retail-group","tag-steers","tag-vovo-telo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880632","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=880632"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":880672,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880632\/revisions\/880672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/846188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}