ChipsAway’s parent group starts to recover after COVID-19 crisis

Multi-brand franchisor Franchise Brands shares its sales figures as the UK lockdown restrictions are eased.

Franchise Brands is a multi-brand franchising group with a network of over 400 franchisees across five franchise brands. Van-based franchise ChipsAway is part of its B2C division, along with Ovenclean and Barking Mad.

The group recently released interim results that demonstrated how the lockdown had impacted its performance.

Franchise Brands experienced a strong first quarter, and unsurprisingly, a weaker second quarter. However, trading did start to recover in June.

Its half-year figures to June 30th revealed a 21 percent increase in revenue to reach an impressive £24.2 million. But the pre-tax profits were halved, to £900,000, which does indicate how the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown restrictions impacted the business.

After a successful placing in April, that raised £13.6 million, Franchise Brand’s strengthened balance sheet will mean it can make the most of organic growth opportunites and earnings-boosting acquisitions as society starts to return to ‘normal’.

The Executive Chairman, Stephen Hemsley, said:

“Following a successful placing, our strengthened balance sheet will allow us to take advantage of both organic growth opportunities and earnings-enhancing acquisitions as the lockdown eases.”

He added:

“I am pleased with our robust H1 performance, which featured a strong first quarter followed by a period of tight cost control during the lockdown period.

“This highlights the underlying resilience of our business model, underpinned by our network of 435 franchisees supporting a broad range of commercial and domestic customers, and is thanks to the hard work and adaptability of my colleagues, our franchisees and, particularly, our engineers during this challenging period.”

ChipsAway is the originator of the SMART (Small to Medium Area Repair Technology) repair process. Head to its client page for more details about the franchise opportunity.