Shares up 15% in opening minutes of AIM debut

Stephen Hemsley, left, and Nigel Wray of Franchise Brands

SHARES in Franchise Brand rose 15% in the opening minutes after the Kidderminster group floated on the Alternative Investment Market.
It is the first West Midlands company to go public since the EU referendum. The oversubscribed placing has raised £3.5m, which will result in £2.86m being available to grow the business, predominantly through acquisitions.
Franchise Brands had a market value of £15.55m when its shares floated at 33p this morning
Stephen Hemsley, executive chairman of Franchise Brands, said: “We are delighted to announce our admission to AIM following a well-supported fundraising in which a number of high quality institutional investors participated.
“We welcome our new shareholders and look forward to updating them and the wider market as we build on our success to date, and expand the group through the acquisition of complementary businesses.”  
Franchise Brands operates three brands – ChipsAway, Ovenclean and MyHome – through 330 franchisees. It predominantly operates in the UK but has franchisees in 12 countries.
Franchise Brands’ two major shareholders are its co-founders, Saracaens chairman Nigel Wray who holds 38.6% and the Mr Hemsley, who has 35.6%. The duo, who worked together growing pizza franchise business Domino’s UK, have reduced their combined stake from 74.2% to 57.5%.

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