To Open Greyhound Cafe in UK Late 2017 to Penetrate Europe
BANGKOK — Mudman (MM), a leading operator of global food and lifestyle brands, is speeding up its local and overseas restaurant chain expansions, and by Q4 it is going to open a Greyhound Cafe branch as its flagship store in the UK and as the springboard for further expansion through franchising in Europe. It seeks to increase the number of branches both in Thailand and through franchising for new countries every year, as well as expand “M-Kitchen” cafeteria management business to cover new establishments and raise the number of Dunkin Donuts, Au Bon Pain and Baskin Robbins stores in Thailand continuously.
Mr Nadim Xavier Salhani, MM’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), revealed that the company stock has listed and become tradeable on the Market for Alternative Investments (MAI) with the ticker symbol “MM”, after making an initial public offering (IPO) of 210,980,750 capital-increase ordinary shares (which, after the IPO, represent 20% of MM’s issued and paid-up capital) to the shareholders of Sub Sri Thai Public Company Limited (SST) who exercised their pre-emptive rights, the underwriters’ patrons and institutional investors for THB 5.25 each.
After the successful fundraising in the MAI, MM will press ahead with local and overseas expansions of its restaurant chains, which are to be managed within the framework of master franchise agreements or using its own brands, with a focus on Dunkin Donuts, Au Bon Pain, Baskin Robbins, M-Kitchen and Greyhound Cafe brands, in its efforts to secure global leadership in the restaurant chain business. It currently does not intend to raise the number of Greyhound branches for lifestyle business.
The company seeks to expand the Greyhound Cafe restaurant chain operations, which are run under its own brand, planning to raise the number of branches in Thailand (with required investments of THB 15-20 million per branch) by 6-9, or to 19-22, by 2020, as well as raise the number of overseas branches in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore continuously and strike franchising deals for one or two new markets per year.
In addition, the company will increase the presence of Greyhound Cafe elsewhere, especially in Europe. It has incorporated GHC Cafe (UK) Co., Ltd as a subsidiary of Greyhound Cafe Co with the objective to develop food and beverage (F&B) businesses in the UK. Its first Greyhound Cafe branch there, which will come into operation in Q4, will serve as the flagship store and as the springboard for further expansion through franchising in Europe. It also seeks to increase the sites of operation of “M-Kitchen” hospital cafeteria and IPD food service business to include private or international schools, etc.
MM will grow the business run under the master franchise agreements for Dunkin Donuts, Au Bon Pain and Baskin Robbins by increasing the number of branches by 12-15, 5-6 and 3-5 per year, respectively. As at the end of 2020, the number is forecasted to reach 355, 96 and 54, respectively.
Mr Montree Sornpaisarn, CEO of Maybank Kim Eng Securities (Thailand) Public Company Limited, the Lead Underwriter of MM’s capital-increase IPO shares, noted that MM has strong fundamentals. It, he said, posted a net loss for 2016 due to amortisation of intangibles from merger and acquisition transactions and impairment of assets, but the loss was purely accounting expenses and doesn’t affect MM cash flow, and without such expense items, the company would record positive operating results. To him, the company has sound growth potential.
MM is exceptionally strong in product development. It introduces new delicacies to the market prolifically, including supplying special dishes for key festivals to enhance sales. It also employs rigorous control of product quality, including in the areas of materials selection, production, warehousing and distribution, and truly recognises the importance of service quality, cost control and branding through digital-media marketing.
“We see MM as having great competitiveness and turnaround potential. Apart from its business strengths, it stands to benefit from the growing popularity of dining out, which will be good for its F&B business, as well as from the forecasted 8% annualised growth in market value of the food industry from THB 0.788 trillion in 2016 to more than THB 0.995 trillion in 2019,” said Mr Sornpaisarn.