'Pleasing progress' at Franchise Brands
Revenue and profits have jumped at Franchise Brands, the Kidderminster based group, thanks to its £28m takeover deal for drain cleaning business MetroRod.
It become its fourth franchise business and has helped push revenues up 88% to £16.8m in the six months to June with Franchise Brands swinging to a £1.4m pre-tax profit from a £200,000 loss a year ago due to the costs of the MetroRod deal.
Executive chairman Stephen Hemsley said: “The first half of 2018 has been a period of pleasing progress for Franchise Brands with the business as a whole performing as expected.
“Metro Rod is capable of significant growth and I am very encouraged that we have started to see the benefits coming through of the new strategy. The investment we are making will help unlock Metro Rod’s potential; new technology is already allowing us to automate processes, reduce costs and provide a superior customer experience.”
The group also owns car body repairer ChipsAway, cleaning business Ovenclean and dog sitters Barking Mad, all of which “performed solidly” in the first half of the year
Mr Hemsley added: "The outlook for the group remains very positive and I look forward to the remainder of 2018 with confidence."
