Famous Brands: Shoprite partnership to grow sales

FAMOUS Brands, the South African owner of fast-food chains including Debonairs Pizza and Steers burgers, is in talks with supermarket operator Shoprite Holdings about expanding a partnership to Nigeria and Zambia. That strategy would help Famous Brands more than double the proportion of earnings from operations across the continent, chief executive Kevin Hedderwick said yesterday. Negotiations with Shoprite involve “how we can work closer together in places like Nigeria, where they have a big footprint”, as well as in Zambia, he said. Famous Brands has been adding outlets outside South Africa to help counter slowing economic growth in its domestic market, where consumer spending has been stifled by strikes, accelerating inflation and an unemployment rate exceeding 25 percent. It would open its first restaurant in Angola next month with Shoprite, Hedderwick said. Shares fell 0.14 percent to close at R108.19 yesterday. – Bloomberg